RAWALPINDI: A two-member team of the Punjab government formed by the chief secretary will visit Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) to probe into the financial scam worth Rs1.98 billion on Monday (today).

A senior RDA official told Dawn that Rs3 billion were missing from the RDA accounts since 2016 and after investigations, over Rs1 billion had been recovered from different banks. However, an amount of Rs1.98 billion still remained missing, and this amount had been distributed among 22 people and firms.

He said the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and Anti-Corruption Establishment were already investigating the matter on the request of RDA Director General Kinza Murtaza.

“During investigation, the joint team of NAB and RDA recovered bank stamps, statements of banks and deposit slips of money from the house of former deputy director finance,” he said, adding that NAB had seized the record.

The official said details of 22 people had been provided by the bank in whose accounts large sums of money were transferred from the RDA’s official account.

“The investigators had obtained details of the accounts of these 22 suspects and firms; two company owners had already fled abroad,” he said.

The RDA official said the civic body had written a letter to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and National Accountability Bureau, asking them to freeze the accounts of the people who were being investigated but they went abroad a day before this.

He said the provincial government’s investigation team would also visit the civic body offices on Monday and check the record of the banks and other available documents in the finance offices.

When contacted, RDA Director General Kinza Murtaza said investigations had been started and the state money would be recovered soon. She said the recovery of misappropriated funds was possible within the legal framework from estate and properties.

She said they had already informed the provincial government about the scam as well as details of the preliminary investigations, adding that they had collected all records from the banks, and the total missing amount was Rs1.98 billion.

Ms Murtaza said the RDA officials had been directed to give all information and record to the investigation teams of NAB, FIA and Anti-Corruption Establishment, adding that she had already sent letters to all the three departments urging swift recovery of public funds and stern legal action against those involved.

She said the RDA remained fully committed to transparency and accountability, and that eradicating corruption and safeguarding public assets was their top priority.

Published in Dawn, June 2nd, 2025