A huge amount of Rs 291.6 million was embezzled from the treasury of the District Zakat Office as according to the sources Fake funds were released to bogus local Zakat committees.
The chairman of the Islamabad Zakat Committee and four officials of the Chief Commissioner’s Office have been held responsible for this corruption. The matter has been handed over to the FIA for further inquiry.
According to the initial report, 196 local Zakat committees have been found to be bogus in the District Zakat Office, 10 committees were formed by government officers themselves, and Rs 110 million were released illegally. And a huge amount of Rs 180 million was released to self-made committees formed by the chairman himself.
The Ministry of Interior dissolved all the local and Ushr Committees till further expectation and Deputy Commissioner Islamabad was appointed as Administrator while Assistant Commissioners were appointed as Heads of LZUCs, An inquiry was launched in October 2024 on the instructions of Chief Commissioner Islamabad Muhammad Ali Randhawa for transparency.
Chairman Islamabad Zakat Committee Raja Jan Muhammad and District Zakat Officer Tauqeer Aslam were questioned for releasing funds from the Federal Treasury Office (FTO) to bogus committees and interrogated about the formation of fake committees.
According to the sources of The INQUIRER Rs 116.7 million were released to these committees using fake signatures along with Waheedabad Committee losing Rs 6.864 million to the National Treasury.
The scandal has drawn in a number of prominent personalities. District Zakat Officer Tauqeer Aslam and stenographer Adeel Ashraf, along with others have supposed to have formed 10 local Zakat Committees against rules and directions from the authorities to release funds for them, as alleged by some. Also, of the three committees formed in 2020, the renewal of which was against laid-down norms for another three years, is also under suspicion.
The chairman of the Zakat Committee abused his position by transferring an amount of 18 million rupees to the fictitious committees he himself created. In addition, 57 local Zakat committees had lapsed but the director went ahead to release funds to them contrary to the rules.
The transfer of money from Zakat funds to the accounts of private companies is also a part of the scheme. An amount of Rs 30 million was placed into the account of F63, which purportedly was closed afterward. Besides, Rs 68 lakh was delivered to marry allowances, Rs1 crore paid for hospitals, and a total of Rs 260 million paid for sustenance allowances one year all from counterfeit committees.
