Hajj arrangements scam: SC grills FIA, Kazmi

Court says investigations seem an attempt to protect someone.

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Thursday expressed dissatisfaction with the Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) probe into the alleged corruption in Hajj arrangements.

The court also raised serious reservations about FIA Director-General Wasim Ahmed. The court observed that the investigations showed clear dishonesty on the part of the FIA and seemed like an attempt to protect someone.

A seven-member special bench of the SC, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, was hearing a suo motu case, regarding alleged corruption in Hajj arrangements.

During the hearing, Federal Minister for Science and Technology Azam Swati informed the court that, in a federal cabinet meeting, he had asked the prime minister to ‘punish’ the Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Hamid Saeed Kazmi about the scandal.

Swati delivered a statement against the government and said that he had warned the prime minister about corruption in Hajj arrangements in a cabinet meeting.

He alleged that corruption was carried out upon Kazmi’s orders, adding that he would put forward a detailed statement with evidence at the next hearing of the case. However, he sought some more time to present the evidence.

The CJP asked former Hajj director general Rao Shakeel to justify the serious allegations against him in the scandal.

The CJP also told Shakeel that morally, he should not have accepted the position of Hajj DG as there were corruption references pending against him in National Accountability Bureau (NAB) courts.

In his defence, Shakeel said that all the pilgrims’ residences were properly attained in April. The accommodation was at a distance of two kilometres from the Holy Kaaba. However, he said, he is not responsible for the accommodation obtained later. He also said that he had dismissed an officer Ahmed Faiz for corruption when he came to know about corrupt practices in Hajj arrangements.

On this remark, Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday said that it seemed as if everyone, except the pilgrims, is guilty. “Was the government blind not to see the mismanagement?” Ramday asked.

Justice Javed Iqbal said that, in 28 years of his professional life, he had not seen corruption of such proportions.

The CJP asked Shakeel, “if your secretary and minister are innocent, then who is responsible for corruption? Are all these pilgrims lying?” he said.

Justice Ramday remarked that 1,000 Saudi riyals were received from each pilgrim for providing boarding facilities in Mina but no facility was provided to them. “There was no water available for pilgrims, which caused immense problems for them,” he said.

Kazmi submitted a written reply before the court, stating that, being the federal minister, it was his responsibility to formulate policies. “To implement policies is the collective responsibility of the department,” he said.

Talking about Shakeel’s appointment, Kazmi said that Prime Minister Gilani had appointed him. Kazmi said that he has sent a defamation notice to Swati for levelling baseless allegations against him.

The hearing was adjourned till December 13.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 10^th, 2010.