Multi-billion rupee scam: Supreme Court summons FIA DG in NICL case

Court questions why FIA’s Lahore director is still attached to investigations.

ISLAMABAD:

The Supreme Court has summoned the director-general of the Federal Investigation Agency to appear before the court to explain why an officer, who was facing contempt of court charges, was still being allowed to investigate in the NICL scam case.

“Everyone investigating the case is making a mockery of the court as influential persons were being spared,” said the top judge of the country on Tuesday.

FIA Lahore Director Waqar Haider was charged with contempt last year when he refused to allow Zafar Ahmed Qureshi, an officer who was investigating the National Insurance Company Limited (NICL) scam, from entering FIA offices in Lahore. Haider also allegedly allowed some of the accused in the case to withdraw money on bogus cheques.



Irked by the fact that Haider was still on the case, Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry issued notices to FIA Director General Anwar Virk to explain why the officer had still not been detached from the case.

The three-judge bench hearing the NICL case also directed Federal Commerce Secretary Munir Qureshi to submit a progress report and revoke the bail of the accused by March  11.

“Everything in the case has been reduced to a farce. The prosecution is [relying on pure luck] and waiting for the accused to return to the country,” observed Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed.



Justice Gulzar Ahmed said the money trail seemed to point to Commerce Minister Makhdoom Amin Fahim, and that the FIA had not taken any criminal action against the accused.

Advocate Munir Paracha, the counsel for FIA Karachi, said five different criminal cases had been registered so far while red warrants had been issued against the absconders in the case, including four NICL directors.

The commerce secretary informed the court that Rs2.12 billion had been recovered out of a total estimated loss of Rs2.6 billion. However, the figure didn’t seem to impress the bench. Qureshi was also at a loss to explain why the NICL chairman’s slot had been vacant for the past month.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 6^th, 2013.