Ephedrine scandal: ANF intensifies assault on Ali Musa and co.
Secretary Zafar Abbas Lak accused of conspiring to destroy evidence.
ISLAMABAD:
The Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) submitted additional documents of its inquiry report in the Supreme Court on Thursday, listing Ali Musa Gilani as the main accused in the Ephedrine scandal.
The report added eight more names to the list of accused, including the prime minister’s Principal Secretary Khushnood Akhtar Lashari, Ministry of Narcotics Control Secretary Zafar Abbas Lak and National Assembly Member Mian Abdul Sattar.
The ANF alleged that Secretary Lak was trying to sabotage the inquiry process, and added that the Ministry of Narcotics Control has been asking the ANF to stop its inquiry and also stop proceedings in the Supreme Court.
A three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, will hear the case on Friday.
ANF Regional Director Brig Fahim Ahmed Khan on Thursday submitted additional documents to the Supreme Court.
Brig Khan stated that when Zafar Abbas Luk took over as acting secretary of the ministry of narcotics control, he had ulterior motives to sabotage and mislead the investigation as well as distort the evidence in order to save the suspects.
“The secretary deliberately discarded the evidence against the accused which was already collected and placed on record before the trial court. The action of Luk as acting secretary is an open conspiracy against the ANF, an attempt to dismantle the institution,” Brig Khan added.
Brig Khan also alleged that Secretary Luk was wilfully committing conspiracy and had associated himself with the accused in this case. The regional director also stated that ministry of narcotics control as well as government machinery was harassing witnesses from the ministry of health, among others, to retract statements they made to an investigating officer in the case.
“Surprisingly, government machinery is getting statements from the prosecution’s witnesses recorded by pressurising government officials, which must be stopped,” he added.
He said that the ministry of narcotics had given incomplete details of the case to the Ministry of Law on the basis of which the ministry on March 30 replied that the present case is outside the authority of Control of Narcotic Substances Act of 1999, which is why the secretary narcotics asked the ANF to forward the case to Drug Regularity Agency of Pakistan for further action under the Drug Act 1976.
He contended that the allocation of Ephedrine quota was in violation of the United Nations Convention. He said that M/S Berlix and Danas Pharma administration claimed to have manufactured over 210 million and 80 million tablets respectively but there is no genuine record held in the offices of these companies.
Additionally, the lower staff and other suppliers of raw material do not support the stance of the companies.
“The manufacture of the Berlix tablets and consumption of Ephedrine has been found as bogus after being verified on the ground by an investigation team of ANF.
In the case of Danas Pharma, all the pharmacists and medical Stores of Kohistan and Punjab Drug Control Authority have denied any receipt or supply of such tablets at their end,” he added.
Brig Khan went on to add that Zafar Abbas had replied to an accused in the case, Rizwan Ahmed, in response to his application saying “no direct evidence about misuse of quota by Danas Pharma has been established/found as per his inference,” adding that his comments were based on a fake inquiry report.
Brig Khan further stated that ANF had filed an application in the apex court against the posting / transfers because it was in clear violation of the court’s April 10 order.
He also mentioned that a letter on April 16 was received by fax at ANF headquarters in which a ban was imposed on ANF not to release the amount allocated for cash awards without prior approval of the secretary narcotics.
(Read: Matters before the court)
Published in The Express Tribune, April 20th, 2012.
The Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) submitted additional documents of its inquiry report in the Supreme Court on Thursday, listing Ali Musa Gilani as the main accused in the Ephedrine scandal.
The report added eight more names to the list of accused, including the prime minister’s Principal Secretary Khushnood Akhtar Lashari, Ministry of Narcotics Control Secretary Zafar Abbas Lak and National Assembly Member Mian Abdul Sattar.
The ANF alleged that Secretary Lak was trying to sabotage the inquiry process, and added that the Ministry of Narcotics Control has been asking the ANF to stop its inquiry and also stop proceedings in the Supreme Court.
A three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, will hear the case on Friday.
ANF Regional Director Brig Fahim Ahmed Khan on Thursday submitted additional documents to the Supreme Court.
Brig Khan stated that when Zafar Abbas Luk took over as acting secretary of the ministry of narcotics control, he had ulterior motives to sabotage and mislead the investigation as well as distort the evidence in order to save the suspects.
“The secretary deliberately discarded the evidence against the accused which was already collected and placed on record before the trial court. The action of Luk as acting secretary is an open conspiracy against the ANF, an attempt to dismantle the institution,” Brig Khan added.
Brig Khan also alleged that Secretary Luk was wilfully committing conspiracy and had associated himself with the accused in this case. The regional director also stated that ministry of narcotics control as well as government machinery was harassing witnesses from the ministry of health, among others, to retract statements they made to an investigating officer in the case.
“Surprisingly, government machinery is getting statements from the prosecution’s witnesses recorded by pressurising government officials, which must be stopped,” he added.
He said that the ministry of narcotics had given incomplete details of the case to the Ministry of Law on the basis of which the ministry on March 30 replied that the present case is outside the authority of Control of Narcotic Substances Act of 1999, which is why the secretary narcotics asked the ANF to forward the case to Drug Regularity Agency of Pakistan for further action under the Drug Act 1976.
He contended that the allocation of Ephedrine quota was in violation of the United Nations Convention. He said that M/S Berlix and Danas Pharma administration claimed to have manufactured over 210 million and 80 million tablets respectively but there is no genuine record held in the offices of these companies.
Additionally, the lower staff and other suppliers of raw material do not support the stance of the companies.
“The manufacture of the Berlix tablets and consumption of Ephedrine has been found as bogus after being verified on the ground by an investigation team of ANF.
In the case of Danas Pharma, all the pharmacists and medical Stores of Kohistan and Punjab Drug Control Authority have denied any receipt or supply of such tablets at their end,” he added.
Brig Khan went on to add that Zafar Abbas had replied to an accused in the case, Rizwan Ahmed, in response to his application saying “no direct evidence about misuse of quota by Danas Pharma has been established/found as per his inference,” adding that his comments were based on a fake inquiry report.
Brig Khan further stated that ANF had filed an application in the apex court against the posting / transfers because it was in clear violation of the court’s April 10 order.
He also mentioned that a letter on April 16 was received by fax at ANF headquarters in which a ban was imposed on ANF not to release the amount allocated for cash awards without prior approval of the secretary narcotics.
(Read: Matters before the court)
Published in The Express Tribune, April 20th, 2012.