Hajj scam: Retired official testifies against Rao

RAWALPINDI: A former joint secretary testified before a trial court that he asked the passport and immigration authorities to renew the official passport of Ahmed Faiz, an accused in the Hajj scam case, on the direction of former Hajj director general, Rao Shakeel. Arshad Mehmood Bajwa, now a retired man, said in his statement before Special Judge Central Khalid Shabbir that he received a letter from Shakeel to renew Faiz’s blue passport.  Faiz was hired as a building supervisor in 2010. The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has charged Faiz with renting buildings for Hajjis in Saudi Arabia at exorbitant rates.  The court put off the hearing until June 23 and summoned seven more prosecution witnesses in the case for their statements.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 19^th, 2012.