Probe into Grand Hyatt hotel scam set to be transferred for a second time

FIA body recommends handing over the matter to the economic crime wing due to slow pace of investigation

ISLAMABAD: A committee constituted by Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has recommended to hand over the investigation into Grand Hyatt Hotel scam to the economic crime wing E(CW) owing to the slow pace of the probe.

The committee headed by FIA additional director general Wajid Zia called for shifting the probe from the agency's Lahore office to  additional director general (ADG) anti-corruption, economic crime wing, it is learnt.

Last year, names of 12 alleged persons including some senior bureaucrats were placed on the Exit Control List (ECL) under Section 2 of the Exit from Pakistan (Control) Ordinance, 1981, for a period of three months on the recommendation of FIA.

The accused were named in the FIR no. 10/2017 on the charges of wrongful gain to the tune of Rs 25 billion approximately in connivance with one another, causing a huge loss to the government exchequer by way of committing forgery, criminal breach of trust and misuse of official position.



The committee report stated that the case was pending since long due to prolonged litigation and so far, only 50 percent of the investigation could be completed. Therefore, it added, no final and fair conclusion could be drawn at this stage.

In March 2005, Capital Development Authority (CDA) had auctioned the 13.5-acre plot to a business group for Rs 4.88 billion.

As the lease became controversial and FIA started probing the scandal, the CDA terminated the lease for the Grand Hyatt Hotel. Initially, the inquiry was handed over to FIA Special Investigation Unit(SIU) Islamabad but later transferred to the FIA Lahore in December 2015 and after the probe FIR was lodged in May 2017.

Last month, Director General FIA Bashir Memon formed the three-member committee headed by Wajid Zia to examine the ongoing investigation.

Members of the committee included ADG ECW Basharat M Shahzad and Additional Director Law Malik Tariq Mehmood.