The Federal Investigation Agency has registered a criminal case against former Capital Development Authority officials over the alleged fraudulent allotment of 10 residential plots in Sector I-12/4, Islamabad, valued at over Rs200 million.
The CDA plot fraud case was registered by the FIA’s Corporate Crime Circle in Islamabad on October 8, following an inquiry that began in 2024. One suspect has been arrested so far, and the investigation is continuing.
The plots and the accused
The 10 plots, numbered 958, 921, 949, 918, 963, 916, 920, 1088, 909 and 926, each measure 30 by 60 feet and are located in Sector I-12/4.
Those named in the case include Irfan Ullah, then Director Land; Lateef Saeedi of the CDA Council; Asghar Ali, then Admin Officer for Land and Rehabilitation; dealing assistants Faqir Muhammad and Muhammad Athar Khan; Afnan Alam, then Deputy Director Land; and Sidra Anwar, then Director Land. Property dealer Sajid Aslam has been named as a beneficiary and legal heir.
The roles of the then Member Estates Yasir Shah and the Assistant Director Land Revenue will also be scrutinised during the investigation.
How the alleged CDA plot fraud worked
According to the FIA, claims submitted on September 11, 2017 were processed by officials of the Land and Rehabilitation Directorate in connivance with private individuals. The original affectee, Aslam son of Samandar, had been granted state land in District Multan under an eligibility certificate dated October 27, 1965.
Investigators allege his legal heirs then obtained a double rehabilitation benefit in Islamabad, while the earlier Multan allotment was concealed. The allotments were allegedly made during 2017-18.
The case has been registered under Sections 419, 420, 468, 471 and 109 of the Pakistan Penal Code, along with Section 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1947, covering cheating, forgery, use of forged documents, abetment and corruption.
Allegations unproven
The FIA says its internal scrutiny, initiated under CDA Member Estate Muhammad Zaman Wattoo, uncovered the irregularities. The allegations remain unproven in court, and the investigation is ongoing.
The case lands at a time when the CDA’s handling of land is under close watch. The authority manages estate affairs across the federal capital, where allotment decisions affect some of the country’s most valuable urban land. It has been pushing to clear long-stalled development, vowing to complete Islamabad’s E-12 sector within six months after decades of delay while projecting Rs500 billion from a new commercial project. Against that backdrop, a fraud case involving 10 plots shows why the authority’s land records and allotment procedures face growing scrutiny.
The agency has pursued several financial-crime cases in recent months. The Lahore High Court recently upheld an inquiry order against FIA officials accused of coercing a former official, while the agency arrested two suspects over alleged hundi and hawala networks in Dera Ghazi Khan.
What happens next
With one arrest made, investigators will now examine the full paper trail behind the 10 allotments and determine the extent of each accused official’s role. Further arrests are possible as the inquiry widens.
Read the original reporting on this story in The Express Tribune.
