A local court on Saturday placed seven accused in the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) mega corruption case, involving alleged embezzlement of Rs1.2 billion, in the custody of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on a three-day physical remand.
The order was issued by Civil Judge and Judicial Magistrate Ahmad Shehzad Gondal following detailed arguments from the FIA investigation team and legal representatives of the national news agency.
During the hearing, FIA officials presented the accused — Ghawas Khan, Idrees Chaudhry, Imran Munir, Tahir Ghumman, Sajid Ali Warraich, Azhar Farooq, and Khurram Shehzad — before the court. Investigation officer Muhammad Junaid informed the judge that the suspects were allegedly involved in serious financial irregularities, including illegal transactions worth millions of rupees through APP accounts, some linked to the Holiday Inn.
He added that funds from the Provident Fund (PF), intended to safeguard employees' savings, were allegedly withdrawn without authorisation and transferred into different accounts.
The FIA requested custodial interrogation to recover missing records, trace illegal financial trails, and identify other individuals involved, seeking 11 days of physical remand for the accused.
Representing APP, Advocates Rohail Asghar and Hasnain Haider Thaheem opposed the request, claiming the accused prepared fake vouchers to mislead auditors and unlawfully withdrew approximately Rs1b. Advocate Thaheem noted that while APP employs around 850 staff with monthly salaries totalling Rs45 million, the accused transferred Rs115m in a single month, indicating deliberate mismanagement. He alleged that the funds were initially moved into a single account and later distributed among themselves.
Defence counsel, however, contested these claims. Advocate Kashif Gorsi, representing Idrees Chaudhry, stated his client was not a principal beneficiary, and that the bulk of the money - Rs150m - was transferred to the accounts of Arshad Majeed Chaudhry, Azhar Farooq, and Ghulam Murtaza. Similarly, the lawyer for Tahir Ghumman asserted that his client had no role in the direct transfer of funds, identifying other individuals as the true beneficiaries.
After considering the arguments, the judge granted a three-day extension of the physical remand for the seven accused, instead of the 11 days requested by the FIA. The suspects remain in FIA custody for further questioning. This marks the second consecutive extension, as the same accused were placed on a three-day remand in the previous hearing.
The APP mega corruption case emerged following complaints of financial irregularities and alleged embezzlement of Rs1.2b. The FIA has registered a case against 16 individuals, including officers and staff of the state-run news agency, and initial investigations have uncovered evidence of fake vouchers, unauthorised bank transactions, and misuse of institutional accounts.
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