Former FIA DG protests 'victimisation' by FIA

Claims he is being implicated in forged cases as a punishment for speaking the truth

LAHORE:

Former Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) director-general Bashir Memon on Tuesday claimed he was being “victimised” for speaking the truth, doubling down on his allegations that Prime Minister Imran Khan had asked him to initiate cases against Nawaz Sharif and Shehbaz Sharif.

Memon was speaking to media outside a sessions court that extended his interim pre-arrest bail in three cases of fraud, money laundering and human trafficking - the cases denounced by Memon as the whip to exact revenge on him for divulging the “behind-the-scenes facts” of the cases against the Sharif family.

“It is astonishing that the authorities concerned resorted to launching inquiries against me rather than probing my claims that I had been asked to initiate cases against members of the Sharif clan,” he said.

Referring to the ongoing money laundering case against the Sharif family, the former DG FIA claimed that he had once been requested to initiate the same case, adding he turned down the request as he found the case to be devoid of any substance.

Furthermore, Memon registered his dismay at being subjected to what he termed an organised “character assassination” campaign but affirmed the resolve that he will continue speaking the “truth” regardless of consequences.

Court proceedings

A sessions court extended Memon’s interim pre-arrest bail in three cases of fraud, money laundering and human trafficking till January 31.

The judge restrained the FIA from making the arrest and summoned the case record by said date.

Additional sessions judge Naveed Anjum Salimi took up the bail petitions of Bashir Memon filed by counsel Mian Ali Ashfaq to avoid arrest.

In his petition, he contended that he had been implicated in a forged case merely to "humiliate and embarrass" him. He said false allegations have been levelled against him to prove FIA’s efficiency.