Graft cases: Nisar orders FIA to catch ‘big fish’

Interior minister says policy for INGOs will be announced after Eidul Fitr

ISLAMABAD: Expressing displeasure over the Federal Investigation Agency’s performance, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan directed FIA investigators on Wednesday to lay their hands on the big fish involved in mega corruption scandals.

“Catch the big fish [involved in mega corruption] cases within weeks, no matter who they are. Exercise new powers recently vested in you [FIA officials],” Nisar was quoted as saying by a senior official of the FIA, who attended the meeting which took a detailed overview of the key corruption scandals.

Read: Off the hook: NAB drops probe against Sindh finance minister, secretary

He said the interior minister was incensed by FIA’s slow progress on graft cases and even asked why the institution should not be closed down. “The minister asked why FIA investigators allowed senior personnel implicated in financial irregularities to roam about freely,” he said.

An official statement said the participants of the meeting discussed a number of corruption cases including those related to the Employees Old-Age Benefits Institution (EOBI), Benazir Bhutto International Airport, Pakistan State Oil, Hajj Scam, Evacuee Trust Board and Trade Development Authority.



It said the interior minister directed the FIA officials to record progress in these cases in coming weeks and submit challans of the accused. “The policy for international nongovernmental organisations (INGOs) and other policies will be announced after Eidul Fitr,” the statement added.

Read: Frozen accounts : Football federation goes to court against FIA

It said the minister directed that all employees of the National Database Registration Authority, who are posted abroad and who have completed their tenure, should be called back. “And those who do not follow the directions will not be receiving their salaries after August 1,” it added.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 16^th, 2015.