Hajj corruption case: FIA asks for ex-minister’s bail cancellation

A witness says that 87 buildings that were hired for pilgrims in 2010, were in complete violation of Hajj policy.

RAWALPINDI: Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Thursday requested the special court to cancel the bail of former religious affairs minister Hamid Saeed Kazmi for influencing witnesses in the Hajj corruption case.

Special Prosecutor FIA Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ahmed requested Special Judge Central (SJC) Iftikhar Ahmed Khan to cancel his bail on the said charge. Kazmi was arrested on March 15, 2011, but the same bench had granted him bail on August 27, 2012.

Chaudhry Zulfiqar, in his application, maintained that Kazmi was maligning the judiciary on television by claiming that he was falsely implicated in the Hajj scam case. "Since he obtained bail from the trial court he is maligning judiciary and also influencing the witnesses,'' argued the FIA prosecutor, providing the transcript of  TV programmes on which Kazmi had appeared.

Meanwhile two witnesses have also recorded their statements before the same bench. An employee Sajid Qureshi from Multan Garrison Mess (MGM) in its statement said that Mr Kazmi had spent Rs1.33million on his daughter's wedding in 2010. Sajid Hussain an employee of Pakistan Hajj Mission in Jeddah claimed that 87 buildings that were hired for pilgrims in 2010, were in complete violation of Hajj policy.