Raid at KMC’s office: Sindh govt to initiate proceedings against FIA

Says FIA’s jurisdiction is confined to matters concerning federal govt only

KARACHI:

The Sindh government has threated to initiate legal proceedings against the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for conducting raid at the office of Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) and taking away thousands of original files pertaining to land allotment, specially alleged China-cutting. 

“It is our contention that the said documents have been surreptitiously stolen by the FIA officials after the office hour,” said Deputy Secretary (Admin) Local Government Zahid Kametio in a letter addressed to the FIA Director Shahid Hayat.

The Sindh government’s letter, tiled ‘The transgression of powers by officers of the FIA’, further said that the FIA being a statutory body is duly bound to act in accordance with law and within the parameters prescribed by parliament.



It said the FIA’s jurisdiction is confined to matters concerning the federal government only and departments which are under its administrative control.

“The KMC under any stretch of imagination is neither part of the federal government nor is under its administrative control; therefore the FIA has no mandate to conduct such a raid without prior information,” said the letter available with The Express Tribune.

Regarding the record confiscated by the FIA, the letter said that not only the FIA raided the office of the KMC, but also seized and confiscated the entire ‘original’ record of the KMC’s land department situated at the 10th floor of Civic Centre.

“Please note that no inventory or copies of this record was made by the said officers. This is in itself an arbitrary exercise and abuse of power by the FIA officers, which has caused a great anxiety not only amongst the officers of the KMC, but also the public at large whose records have been picked up,” said the deputy secretary.

The letter termed it a breach of provincial autonomy and an act against legal and constitutional rights.

“A request should have been made by the federal agency in writing. However, taking complete original record in a van is unilateral raid at the office of a government department and is blatant excess of authority,” it said.

Commissioner Karachi, who is also in-charge of the KMC, claimed that a large number of files have not been returned. The FIA sources also said that thousands of files were still with the agency and only 200 of them were returned to the KMC.

“Not a single file pertaining to China-cutting has been given back to the KMC. The FIA is probing into matter involving billions of rupees land scam,” an official of FIA said.

However, Sindh chief minister’s spokesperson rebutted the reports of dispute between the FIA and Sindh government and said the former has started returning the documents to the KMC.

“We are also against corruption and will extend every possible help to the FIA against this menace,” the spokesman said, while talking to The Express Tribune. He said that in future the FIA will approach commissioner Karachi and administrator KMC for any details or record they required.

“It has been decided that no raid will be conducted at any government office by the agency.  However, Sindh government itself has stood up against the corruption and will coordinate with others agencies to get rid of it,” the spokesperson said.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 1^st, 2015.