FIA arrests three in APPC corruption scam

IHC cancels bail, accused face Rs124m fraud charges

ISLAMABAD:

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Tuesday arrested three accused, including the former project director of Associated Press of Pakistan Corporation (APPC), after the Islamabad High Court (IHC) terminated their interim bail petitions in a multimillion-rupee corruption scandal.

IHC's Justice Tariq Mahmood Jahangiri heard the pre-arrest bail petitions filed by the accused.

The APPC's counsel argued that the lower court had already canceled the bails of the accused, who managed to escape from the courtroom. He informed the court that the accused had caused a loss of millions of rupees to the state-run news organization through corrupt practices and violations of PPRA rules in the purchase of equipment.

He requested the court to dismiss the petitions so that the accused could be arrested for further investigation into the scam. He emphasized that each petitioner had been accused of a specific role and that their custody was essential to investigate the irregularities mentioned in the first information report (FIR).

Conversely, the lawyers of the accused requested the court to grant interim bail to their clients.

After hearing the arguments, the court dismissed the bail petitions of the accused, after which the FIA arrested them.

According to the statement issued by the FIA spokesperson, the Anti-Corruption Circle Islamabad arrested three government officials Mohammad Ghawas, Saad Mudassar and Musawar Imran involved in corruption, fraud, criminal negligence and misuse of authority. According to the preliminary investigation, the accused caused a loss of Rs124 million to the national treasury through the flagrant violations in the procurement process in the project namely 'Restructuring of news operation by replacing outdated equipment with modern cutting edge technology'.