Khanani and Kalia: FIA chief questions suspects’ acquittal

FIA chief alleges large sum of money used for the release of the accused.

ISLAMABAD:

The Director-General of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Waseem Ahmed on Saturday said exonerating suspects in the Khanani and Kalia case was questionable.

Ahmed was speaking before the Senate’s Standing Committee on Interior chaired by Senator Talha Mehmood. The FIA chief also alleged that a large sum of money was used for the release of the accused, saying that there was enough proof of their involvement in money laundering. “You will be surprised to know how many days they spent in jail and how many days in the hospital,” the FIA chief said.

He added that the prime minister’s son had paid Rs8 million as custom duty for importing a vehicle and the notification for the import of the bulletproof car was issued by the interior ministry.

Waseem said that the FIA is currently conducting inquires in 35 different key cases. By the end of April, all inquiries will be completed, he said. He claimed that in the last four years the agency had only handled immigration duties and corruption cases were dealt by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), but now many corruption cases have been handed over to the FIA. “The FIA should be fully authorised to procure documents to expedite inquiries,” he said.

Presently around 1,032 positions are lying vacant in the FIA, which is one of the reasons for delays, he said. Ahmed further claimed that the salaries and incentives given to FIA officials are much less than that given to provincial police personnel. No efficient officer from any other departments is ready to work in the agency, he said, adding that “possibly political pressure is one of the reasons for not advertising vacancies.”

The committee unanimously recommended to immediately fill vacant positions, and said the interior ministry will be asked to bring salaries at par with provincial police officials.

Meanwhile, the senate committee said there were irregularities in the Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR) and directed the department to plug loopholes in revenue collection.

Earlier, FBR officials told the committee that an inquiry was under way against an official from the FBR’s intelligence wing in Karachi, who had illegally using an imported vehicle owned by another citizen.

The committee was also informed that the health ministry has registered 16, 500 drugs during the last two and half years, which is higher than the total number of drugs registered in the past 60 years. The committee has asked for a report on the sudden increase.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 6^th, 2011.