Scandal inquiry: 3 NICL probe team members ‘out of city’

The one who stayed in town said he could not attend the meeting because of a ‘sharp toothache’.

LAHORE:

All but one of the four-member team investigating the multi-billion National Insurance Company Limited (NICL) scandal feigned on Friday to be ‘out of city’ ostensibly to avoid a meeting summoned by Zafar Qureshi.

The one who preferred to ‘stay in the city’ told FIA authorities that he had missed the meeting scheduled to be held at 10am because of a sharp toothache.

Qureshi had informed the Director-General of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Tahsin Anwar Ali about the meeting on Thursday, who instructed the team members to participate in the meeting with all relevant record.

The message was circulated the same day, but family members of the three missing FIA men told official messengers that they had all gone ‘out of city’. Assistant Director of FIA’s Anti-Corruption Circle Khalid Anees was the only one who preferred to stay in town.

Sources privy to the development said that Deputy Director of FIA’s Corporate Crime Circle Syed Javed Hussain Shah’s family had told FIA officials that he was “out of city”, Assistant Director of FIA’s Anti-Corruption Circle Muhammad Ahmed Chaudhry’s brother said that he was in Kasur, while the family of Inspector Muhammad Sarwar said that he was in Chunian.

Sources familiar with the matter told The Express Tribune that Mr Qureshi again asked the DG FIA to bind the NICL investigation team to attend another meeting which has now been rescheduled to be held on Saturday (today) at 11am.



Published in The Express Tribune, August 13^th, 2011.