New appointments: Ex-director FIA Punjab to head Hajj scam probe

The former provincial chief has now been appointed director agency headquarters.

LAHORE:

Former director FIA Punjab chapter, Inam Ghani, who has now been posted to the position of director of the agency headquarters in Islamabad, is likely to be appointed as the investigator of the Hajj scam, The Express Tribune has learnt.

Ghani, while he was director in Punjab, played a key role in transferring Moonis Elahi, son of senior federal minister Chaudhary Pervez Elahi, to NADRA’s rest house from a jail he was initially sent to for his alleged involvement in the National Insurance Company limited (NICL) scam.

Sources say Ghani is being appointed lead investigator in the Hajj scam because he is expected to facilitate the son of another influential personality, who is allegedly involved in the scandal.

“Ghani has been transferred to Islamabad so that he can fully concentrate on the Hajj scam inquiry,” an official said.

The FIA has also prepared a report which it will present to the Supreme Court on the next date of hearing, praying that Inam Ghani be appointed lead investigator in the Hajj corruption case.

The same team which was working under former lead investigator Hussain Asgher will assist Inam Ghani if he is appointed as inquiry officer by the Supreme Court.

When contacted, Ghani told The Express Tribune that he has only heard through media reports that the FIA has verbally prayed before the Supreme Court in the previous hearings that it wants to appoint him as head of the investigation team. He however denied allegations of favouring Moonis Elahi in the NICL scandal and the impression that he will be appointed lead investigator in Hajj scam case to extend benefits to the son of another influential personality.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 1^st, 2011.