NICL scam: FIA chief apologises for interference in probe

DG Malik Mohammed Iqbal was issued a contempt of court notice during the last hearing of the scam case.

ISLAMABAD:

Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) chief Malik Iqbal has tendered an unconditional apology to the Supreme Court for disengaging Zafar Qureshi, the lead investigating officer in the National Insurance Corporation Ltd (NICL) financial fraud. During the hearing, Iqbal submitted a written apology and placed himself at the mercy of the court after he was served a contempt notice for violating court orders.

A two-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad  Chaudhary had branded the transfer of the investigation officer as interference in the court’s proceedings and had called for an explanation from the FIA chief who had initiated his transfer.

Iqbal had written to the Establishment Division, the headquarters of the federal civil service, to relieve Qureshi from his reappointment in the FIA on the basis of what turned out to be falsified information.

Former investigating officer Zafar Qureshi had informed the court during the last hearing that he had written to the director general of the FIA that further investigation was underway and that a final charge-sheet had yet to be submitted in the apex court which had adjourned the case for three weeks.

“He has been creating hurdles since his appointment,” the court had observed. The establishment division issued a notification for his transfer on April 18 in response to the DG FIA’s correspondence in which he had stated that all the embezzled money had been recovered and the investigation of the NICL scam has been concluded.

The submission of an interim charge-sheet does not imply that the investigation is complete, the bench remarked.

Defending his client, Makh­dum Ali Khan submitted that the FIA chief has a clean record and he is due to retire after two months. The chief justice said the bench would consider his apology on the next date of hearing.  Malik Iqbal adopted a similar procedure for transferring officers investigating the Hajj scam, the bench observed. The court has served a notice to FIA chief pursuant to Article 204 of the constitution.

The case has been adjourned till Wednesday.

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