After allegations, it has now been confirmed that the finance wing of the CDA made duplicate payments to a number of landowners against land acquired in 2008-09. The land was acquired more than a decade ago and this extra payment going unnoticed is a mismanagement of public funds.
A special audit will be conducted now as the issue is getting more complicated. This special audit is absolutely necessary and may also be likely to uncover other mishaps. Irregular payments have been brought to notice since October of 2021 and no concrete steps have been taken for mitigation within the 1.5 years. Additional verification measures must also be explored, such as who the payments were scheduled to and a comprehensive report must be presented to make an example of the issue. Hopefully, a decision will be swift.
This is not the first time that a corruption case and allegation has been levied on the authority and this scam is the latest of several reports surfacing on corruption. The organisation is exempt from austerity measures and the new Service Rules 2020 for the eradication of corruption has also recently been approved. These measures aim to reestablish discipline in the organisation as there have also been reports of deputationist employees reaping more benefits than they should be. The FIA also recently highlighted officers of the organisation on corruption charges.
The current matter is easy to resolve, provided that the government takes accountability in the capital seriously. Tracking down individuals to whom the payments were made can be done. The important aspect is for this process to be done promptly as already the matter is long overdue. Successive governments have been quick to disregard the issue and action must be taken to retrieve the misallocated funds. Again, the importance of government funds cannot be understated at present as the country is barely surviving.
