Hajj scam: Former religious affairs minister’s accounts frozen

Kazmi vows to reveal ‘something interesting’ regarding the scam in a press conference today.

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Monday said that it had frozen the foreign currency accounts of a private seminary run by former religious affairs minister Hamid Saeed Kazmi, who was sacked by the prime minister for his alleged involvement in corruption in Hajj 2010 arrangements.

According to official sources, the FIA froze four accounts of Jamia Anwarul Aloom Multan, which was founded by Kazmi’s father Syed Mohammad Mukhtar Ahmad Shah before the independence of Pakistan. The agency also has frozen the minister’s personal account, which he used for transactions in pounds sterling, in Faisal Bank Ltd in Multan.

A special FIA team that was investigating the scam in Saudi Arabia says that due to limited sources, it is having a hard time probing an increase in assets worth Rs4.5 million in the accounts of former religious affairs minister.

The assets were suddenly increased four months back when money was being transferred to the seminary’s accounts. These accounts are suspected to be holding the money that was embezzled in the multi-million-rupee Hajj corruption scam. Meanwhile, a FIA team headed by Hussain Asghar visiting Saudi Arabia also informed the FIA Director-General Wasim Ahmad on Monday that the Saudi government had frozen the bank accounts of the Pakistani Hajj mission in Jeddah. The accounts contain millions of riyals paid to different companies by more than 75,000 pilgrims last year.

As accounts were frozen in Saudi Arabia, Hajj companies in Pakistan decided to move the Supreme Court against the officials of the Hajj mission claiming that they are yet receive the amount due to them.

However, Kazmi denied reports that the FIA had frozen his accounts in the country or outside. He said he had no information about any such development.

“I have just one foreign account,” he told The Express Tribune. “I have no recollection of the accounts of Jamia Anwarul Aloom abroad.”

Earlier, in a televised interview on Monday, he said that he will reveal something ‘interesting’ regarding the Hajj scam today (Tuesday) in an important press conference.

FIA officials also claimed that the accounts were frozen due to lack of interest shown by officials of the Pakistani consulate in Saudi Arabia as well as the Hajj mission in Jeddah.

Earlier, the FIA had exonerated Kazmi on charges of making millions of rupees in the wake of the Hajj debacle in the investigation report compiled by the FIA DG two weeks back.

“The FIA investigation team found no suspicious transaction in the six accounts that could be identified as it procured details of Hamid Kazmi’s bank accounts in Muslim Commercial Bank and Faysal Bank, Multan,” stated the 21-page report.

Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry rejected the FIA’s report regarding irregularities in Hajj arrangements, saying that it was “not transparent” and that influential people were involved in the scandal.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 25^th, 2011.