RAWALPINDI:
The Punjab Chief Secretary’s fact-finding inquiry committee has summoned eight serving Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) employees and two retired officers to appear in Lahore on August 8 for the sixth round of proceedings in connection with the embezzlement of Rs1.94 billion from a government account. The matter had surfaced in the second week of May this year.
Despite the financial scandal spanning over six years, no former Director General or Director of Administration and Finance of the RDAaside from the incumbentshas been summoned to date. Thus far, scrutiny has been limited to junior and subordinate staff.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB)’s ongoing investigation has yet to yield a significant breakthrough. Meanwhile, an internal inquiry committee established at the RDA a fortnight ago hasn’t finalised its report.
The committee was tasked with determining whether funds held as financial securities in a separate bank account were improperly transferred to other accounts via Call Deposit Receipts (CDRs).
Sources in the RDA confirm that CDRs worth Rs1.29b remain unaccounted for in the authority’s records. The bank in question has reportedly declined to credit these CDRs back to the RDA without official direction from NAB. Separately, it has been confirmed that Rs1.94b was indeed transferred to other accounts before the scandal’s disclosure.
The internal RDA committeeestablished to verify whether any such transfers occurred between internal accountshas yet to submit its findings, despite more than two and a half weeks having passed.
Those summoned to appear before the Chief Secretary’s inquiry committee on August 8 in Lahore include Deputy Director (Finance) Muhammad Masood Arshad, Assistant Director (Finance) Waqar Asghar Raja, senior accountant Syed Al-Raziq, accountants Qasim uz-Zaman, Muhammad Jameel, and Saba Gul, Stenographer Jehangir Ahmed, and senior clerk Shafqat Ali.
Additionally, former Director of Administration and Finance, Asif Mahmood Janjua, and former Assistant Director, Khawaja Arshad Javed, both retired, have also been summoned.
Notably, over the entire six-year period covered by the scandal, no former DG or Director of Administration and Financeother than the current officialshas been called to account.
Last month, the RDA administration begun implementing key reforms to restore financial discipline. As an initial step, the implementation of an irregular promotion was halted, and a revised framework for financial authority was introduced.
