Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: A Capital Development Authority (CDA) three-member probe committee has finalised its investigation regarding the Safa Gold Mall case and submitted its recommendations to the competent authority for taking punitive action against two CDA senior officers, who allegedly favoured the owner at the cost of the national exchequer.

The probe committee was headed by Shahid Sohail including Shafi Marwat and Faisal Naeem which thoroughly perused the record of the Safa Gold Mall allotment scam and found Malik Murtaza and Ammar Idrees guilty of malpractice and recommended for strict action against them, according to a report available with Daily Times.

The investigation report has also been submitted to the NAB Rawalpindi Directorate but despite taking action against the delinquents identified in the report, the corrupt mafia in the NAB started hounding , harassing and humiliating the CDA committee members who probed the scam and identified the CDA-corrupt mafia.

The Federal Investigation Agency, which is also probing the scam on the direction of the interior ministry has yet to finalise its investigation despite the passage of more than four years. It is enough to ascertained the performance of the FIA now administered by Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan who is deciphered as an honest and competent member of the federal cabinet

According to the report , two delinquent officers allowed deduction of circulation cum common areas from the permissible FAR of 1.5 in contradiction to the terms of the allotment letter.

While approving the revised plan the additional area was adjusted on the top floor thus making the floor covered completely.

The report says that in the allotment brochure the owner was allowed to construct four storeys but the delinquent officer permitted him to construct seven stories which is a glaring violation of the building control rules and is also a violation of the auction deals.

In the allotment letter it was defined that the FAR of the building would be 1.5 with 100 per cent coverage and the number of storeys as G + 4 thus capping the height of the building and in no case the number of storeys could be enhanced in violation of the relevant planning parameters and clauses of the allotment letter.

The report says the officers who allowed the owners to erect seven storeys have not brought this issue before the CDA board which is the competent forum for taking a final decision on any issue. Thus these officers have been found guilty and punitive action against them should be commenced without any delay.

The committee also recommended action to be taken for the removal of the violations committed by the management of Safa Gold Mall according to the laws of the land. It further says that as per prevailing practice, the planning parameters for commercial buildings are defined separately, from individual buildings in the planning wing and in consultation with other stake holders must define a uniform policy, planning parameters for all commercial building and areas.

The committee recommended that all decisions taken by the CDA board should be properly notified prior to implementation and it has now called upon the planning wing to move a summary for reviewing the earlier board decision regarding permission for construction of car parking on the CDA land adjacent to the commercial plots.

The source said that the report had been submitted to the CDA chairman on August 26, 2016, with the recommendations but the chairman had yet to take action against the officers as they are still holding key posts in the Authority.

The Safa Gold Mall corruption scam took another twist when the NAB decided to probe the scam and the DG NAB Rawalpindi directed the investigation officer, Ahsan Sargana, to probe the case as soon as possible.