Zardari, Talpur request removal of FIA director in investigation team

Zardari and Talpur fail to appear before FIA once again in the ongoing money laundering trial

ISLAMABAD: Failing to appear before the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) yet again, former president Asif Ali Zardari and Faryal Talpur requested FIA Additional Director General Najaf Mirza to be removed as head of the investigation team.

In their reply submitted to the Supreme Court, Zardari and Talpur expressed their reservations against FIA Additional Director General Najaf Mirza leading the investigation team.

The two PPP leaders through their counsel, Farook H Naek, called for the court to direct FIA to conduct a fair investigation without any harassment or defamation.

It also stated that the FIA in its interim challan nominated Zardari as the accused and the purpose of suo motu proceedings has thus been achieved. Any further Supreme Court proceedings would be a violation of the respondent’s rights. The reply asked the court to drop proceedings against Zardari.



The two previously failed to appear before the FIA on July 28 and their case had been halted by the Supreme Court before to avoid allegations of pre-poll rigging before the July 25 elections.

Their counsel clarified that the two were occupied with submitting their asset details to the Election Commission of Pakistan as August 4 was the last day for asset declaration.

The Supreme Court had earlier taken suo motu notice of alleged money laundering of Rs35 billion.

Hussain Lawai, former Pakistan Stock Exchange chairman and close aide of Zardari, and Taha Raza, Summit Bank Senior Vice-President were sent to jail on remand in the same case. Lawai, accused of facilitating 29 ‘fake’ accounts in Summit Bank, Sindh Bank and United Bank Limited was presented along with Raza before a magistrate by the FIA. After submitting an initial inquiry report, the FIA team sought further remand to complete the investigation.



At a press conference on Friday, PPP leaders demanded the removal of FIA Director-General Bashir Memon and JIT Head Najaf Mirza who are leading the inquiry against Zardari and Talpur.

“Our leaders are being politically victimised and the FIA officers are targeting PPP leaders because of their personal vendetta against PPP leadership,” said Dr Nafisa Shah, PPP MNA-elect.

She said it was widely known that Najaf was related to PPP’s arch rival, apparently referring to his relations with Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) leader Zulfiqar Mirza. She added that Najaf was also involved in torturing the PPP co-chairperson in jail and Zardari had registered a case against him.

“This is not a dubious account. It is owned by the Zardari Group of Companies, which is a public limited company. Every year the company is audited,” Dr Shah said referring to the account being investigated. Shah also questioned why a case that was four years old was reopened especially at the time of the elections. “This action is nothing, but aimed at targeting PPP leadership,” she declared.