LAHORE: A regular inquiry has been ordered under the PEEDA Act 2006 against four officers over alleged irregularities in the recording of foreign currency and in the cash book at Data Darbar Lahore.
According to the order, charges of misconduct, corruption and embezzlement have been levelled against all four officers. An inquiry committee has been constituted for disciplinary proceedings against Shahid Hameed, Gulab Arshad, Sheikh Jameel Ahmed and Tahir Maqsood.
Shahid Hameed has served as former Administrator Auqaf Data Darbar, while Gulab Arshad, Sheikh Jameel Ahmed and Tahir Maqsood have served as former Managers Auqaf Data Darbar Lahore. Tahir Maqsood has already been dismissed in a separate matter of misconduct.
The order states that a forensic audit of the foreign currency entries from 29 cash openings at Data Darbar between July 2020 and June 2025 was carried out by the Punjab Forensic Science Agency.
The report identified cutting and overwriting in the entries of various foreign currencies, including US dollars and British pounds.
According to the forensic report, an allegation has also emerged of financial loss caused to the department through alleged alteration of the foreign currency figures.
The committee report identified that, during examination of the Data Darbar cash book, cheques for tax payments were written on various dates and that certain cheques were subsequently cancelled and deleted from the cash book.
According to the order, an allegation of embezzlement of the amounts of the cancelled cheques has also been levelled. The act of cancelling cheques and deleting them from the cash book has been placed in the category of misconduct, corruption and causing financial loss to the national exchequer.
The two findings describe complementary methods. Cash openings at a major shrine generate large volumes of donations, including foreign currency deposited by pilgrims and visitors from abroad. Because foreign currency must be manually counted, recorded by denomination and later converted, the entry stage is the point at which the recorded figure can diverge from the amount actually received — and overwriting on the original entry is the physical trace such divergence leaves.
On the cash book side, writing a cheque creates an accounting record of a payment. Cancelling that cheque and removing the entry from the book erases the record of the corresponding funds, leaving no trail against which the disposal of the money can be reconciled.
The competent authority examined the record of Form No. 4 and the cash book of Data Darbar from 2020-21 to 2024-25, and additionally took into account the recommendations of a committee constituted under the leadership of the Director Finance Auqaf Punjab as well as the report of the Punjab Forensic Science Agency.
An inquiry committee comprising the Director Administration Auqaf Punjab and the Deputy Director Finance Auqaf Punjab has been appointed for the regular inquiry under the PEEDA Act 2006.
The order directs all four accused officers to submit their written defence before the inquiry officer within seven days of receipt of the order. In the event that a defence is not presented within the stipulated period, the charges will be deemed to have been accepted as correct.
Data Darbar, the shrine of Hazrat Ali Hujwiri, is among the most visited religious sites in Pakistan and is administered by the Auqaf and Religious Affairs Department of the Punjab government, which manages shrine revenues and expenditure.
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