Dual nationality case: FIA head booked for misleading apex court
Court ordered registration of criminal case for false information.
ISLAMABAD:
A case has been registered against Director-General Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Fayyaz Ahmed Leghari and other officials for misleading the Supreme Court in the dual nationality case.
On the orders of the apex court, the secretariat police registered a First Information Report (FIR) against Leghari and other officers of the investigation agency for providing the court with misleading information on the nationality status of Punjab Assembly legislator Tariq Mehmood Alwana.
Other officers booked included a deputy-director who signed the controversial document produced before the court, along with computer operators and junior officials who failed to check the error.
Sources in the secretariat police said the FIR was registered on Wednesday night on the application of the Additional Registrar of the Supreme Court. A police officer close to the investigations said the suspects would obtain pre-arrest bail from the court. No arrests have so far been made.
The Supreme Court had ordered the registration of criminal cases against the officials under sections 192, 193 and 197 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) for placing false and forged documents on record before the court.
On Wednesday, a three-judge bench, comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Jawwad S Khawaja and Justice Khilji Arif Hussain, rejected the FIA legal director’s claim that the error in the document was an honest mistake.
He said Alwana shared resemblance with another person, a resident of Chakwal, along with the same father’s name and date of birth.
However, the court rejected the explanation and held the investigation agency responsible for submitting a false document.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 6th, 2012.
A case has been registered against Director-General Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Fayyaz Ahmed Leghari and other officials for misleading the Supreme Court in the dual nationality case.
On the orders of the apex court, the secretariat police registered a First Information Report (FIR) against Leghari and other officers of the investigation agency for providing the court with misleading information on the nationality status of Punjab Assembly legislator Tariq Mehmood Alwana.
Other officers booked included a deputy-director who signed the controversial document produced before the court, along with computer operators and junior officials who failed to check the error.
Sources in the secretariat police said the FIR was registered on Wednesday night on the application of the Additional Registrar of the Supreme Court. A police officer close to the investigations said the suspects would obtain pre-arrest bail from the court. No arrests have so far been made.
The Supreme Court had ordered the registration of criminal cases against the officials under sections 192, 193 and 197 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) for placing false and forged documents on record before the court.
On Wednesday, a three-judge bench, comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Jawwad S Khawaja and Justice Khilji Arif Hussain, rejected the FIA legal director’s claim that the error in the document was an honest mistake.
He said Alwana shared resemblance with another person, a resident of Chakwal, along with the same father’s name and date of birth.
However, the court rejected the explanation and held the investigation agency responsible for submitting a false document.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 6th, 2012.