LDA’s graft accused nominated for training

LAHORE: A high profile customer handling project of Lahore Development Authority (LDA) has become questionable as LDA’s nominated female officer for project training was an accused in a corruption case and the authority itself moved a case to Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE).

Sources said the authority’s administration department on August 7, 2019 issued a notification (LDA/ADMN/A.O-II/08-19/142) placing Muhammad Shoaib Riaz and a female officer, senior call centre operators, at the disposal of Programme Manager, PRMRP under Punjab Information Technology Board, to train PITB staff for Hotline Training Programme from 8th August, 2019 to 17th August, 2019.

The notification was sent to several senior officers, including Director DG’s (HQ) and Director IT(I&O). It is pertinent to note that on August 3, 2019, LDA’s Public Relation Department issued a press release stating that LDA has asked ACE to lodge an inquiry against the female officer and four others Zulfiqar Ali, Staff Officer Revenue Branch, Shahbaz Hassan, Data Entry Operator, Owais Butt, Junior Clerk and Zahid Ali.

The letter written to Director Anti-Corruption Lahore by LDA’s Director Land Development -1 stated that the authority had conducted a fact finding inquiry into the matter of plot # 13, Block J-3, Johar Town and all the above-mentioned officials were found guilty.

Sources said that nomination of the accused female officer both in a corruption inquiry and a high profile project’s training raised serious questions about the attention of Lahore Development Authority’s senior management on critical issues. Sources revealed that the female officer was also among the 22 officers recently transferred from One-Window Cell for their ‘long’ stay at the cell.

Sources said that some six months back two LDA officers Omer Sohaib and Mirza Faiz, who were transferred to Wasa by former DG LDA Amna Imran Khan on public complaints, were recently brought back to the LDA and Omer Sohaib was the officer who signed the notification of her nomination for hotline’s training.

Asadullah Cheema, Director One Window, LDA, admitted that she was transferred from the cell recently. He said he had not nominated her for the training and this was the job of administration department.

Kamran, Director DG (HQ), who is handling the hotline project, said that the female officer’s nomination was a clerical error and later he said that she went there just to tell PITB people about LDA’s working and complaint handling.

Over a question that who nominated her for the training, he said it was a random choice. Answering a question about return of Omer and Mirza Faiz to LDA, he said it was not his decision.