Smoke and mirrors: Private investigators are a law unto themselves

Most are thought to be ‘touts’ for law enforcement and intelligence agencies.

KARACHI:

There is currently no law to govern the thriving business of private investigators in the country.

Indeed, except for one Lahore-based company, Fact Finders, no private detective companies have officially registered with the government of Pakistan.

Recently, the case of an illegal private investigator, Moin Mirza, was highlighted in the press. Mirza was allegedly working in cahoots with the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and intelligence agencies in Karachi. He was caught on camera admitting to blackmailing leading private companies on the pretext of uncovering income tax evasions.

Experts say there are many individuals like Mirza all over the country who claim to be backed by various intelligence or federal investigation agencies. There is apparently a dire need for legislation to set controls on this practice, which is likely to be misused if unchecked.

Afzal Shigri, former inspector general of police in Sindh, says most of the so-called private investigators that operate in the country are ‘touts’ of leading law enforcement and intelligence agencies who work as their informers.

The informers, who are not on the official list of employees of the institutions they work with, at times misuse their connections with influential officers for graft or to settle scores. “There is nothing wrong in using informers and in fact an investigation officer requires the services of such people. However, there is a need for a system within that institution, whether it’s the police force or FIA or military, to hold such people accountable if they misuse their connections,” Shigri said.

DSP Special Investigation Unit Usman Asghar pointed out that not all of these so-called private detectives are on the payroll of any institution. “I myself have caught a number of blackmailers and extortionists who claimed to be serving majors or colonels, but were nothing but impersonating crooks,” he said.

Senior criminal lawyer Khawaja Naveed Ahmed said there is no law in the county that allows the setting up of a private detective firm, like it is done in many countries in the West. However, he said, it was common knowledge that many private investigators operate all over the country. He added that this was nothing new.

Also, in the past Akhtar Mengal got into trouble when his guards lashed out at two men who were allegedly following them. Later, it turned out that the two men were spying on Mengal on behalf of an intelligence agency.

“But by law, no private citizen or company can detain or spy on anyone,” Ahmed said.

However, the owner of Fact Finders, Masood, who did not wish to give his last name, said his company was registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan and operated legally with the permission of the government.

Masood said he was a former army man with 22 years of military service. However, he didn’t believe his military background made it easy for him to get the permission from the government. “In fact it took us eight months to get our company registered with the government,” he said.

Masood said his company, which began only one and  a half years back, now operated all over the country. Some of the services provided include cheating wife/ husband investigations, real estate fraud investigations, tenant screening, pre-marital background checks, recovery of vehicles for banks, verification for embassies and land ownership and title investigation. When asked how well was he doing in his business, he said it was pretty good and would encourage other businessmen to follow suit.

Masood clarified that there was nothing illegal in his practice because he has the permission of the government. “As far as the law is concerned, it is the legislator’s job to get it made.”

Shigri stressed that there is a dire need for a law to govern the practice of private investigators since, while companies like Fact Finders may be on the government’s radar, no one really knows for sure about the number of people operating such firms without the state’s knowledge. “When the private security guard company business began, there was no law, but gradually it was made. Similarly the same should be done for private detective firms,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 18^th, 2012.