Contract employees’ case: SC is being forced to give verdict, says CJP

Court also rejects FIA’s investigation report into the Hajj scam.

ISLAMABAD:

The Supreme Court is being forced to deliver its verdict in the contract employees’ case, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry has said.

“The government should review the re-employment case of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) director-general Wasim Ahmed and avoid pushing the court to the wall,” the CJP said during Wednesday’s hearing of the Hajj scam case.

“If the Sindh inspector-general can be removed, then there shouldn’t be any hurdle in removing the FIA DG,” Justice Chaudhry said, adding it seemed that the government was disinterested in implementing court orders.

The federation’s counsel, Abdul Hafeez Pirzada, said that the government did not want to remove Ahmed and will defend the case in court.

Pirzada said that the case will negatively affect the bureaucracy across the country, but the CJP responded that it would be beneficial for the bureaucracy and said the court would announce its decision after arguments are complete.

The court also rejected the FIA’s report into the Hajj scam, which was presented during the hearing.

The report stated that witnesses had been found against former state minister for religious affairs Shagufta Jummani. “Jummani received a commission from Saudi national Ibrahim Baghdadi in the name of Pakistani pilgrims. She has denied the charge,” FIA director Hussain Asghar said.

The CJP said that, according to records, public money was used for free Hajj. Former Hajj DG Rao Shakeel said that bills were sent to the people who performed free Hajj.

Additional DG FIA Javed Bukhari said that a charge-sheet was being completed against Kazmi and will be presented soon. The court was told that Shakeel had tampered with the records.

Recorded statements of three people, including former Pakistan ambassador to Saudi Arabia Ali Sher Umarzai, an employee of Hajj Directorate Abid Munir and a middleman Naseer, were also submitted.

According to Umarzai’s statement, Shakeel had offered him four million Saudi riyals as bribe while Kazmi had caused a loss of nine million Riyals in the process of renting buildings in Saudi Arabia. According to Naseer, Jummani was to receive 25 riyals per pilgrim for sending 10,000 pilgrims.

When asked about pilgrims sent at the government’s expense, the FIA replied that a letter asking to provide them lodging was written at the behest of the interior minister’s personal secretary Raja Javed.

The hearing was adjourned till April 8.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 17^th, 2011.