The Supreme Court on Thursday directed Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to submit daily progress report on Hajj corruption to registrar office, not in any case ignoring Abdul Qadir Gilani, son of PM Gilani for his alleged involvement in the case.
During the hearing, the court was informed that 152 senior officials were working on contract basis after their retirement, of which summary for removal of 15 officers including DG FIA Waseem Ahmed and Inspector General Police, Sindh Babar Khatak were sent to prime minster secretariat.
The court was also informed that all the 13 contract officials in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were removed, besides, 9 officials of Punjab and 43 of Sindh. An eight-member bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry comprising Justice Javed Iqbal, Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jilani, Justice Raja Fayyaz Ahmed, Justice Muhammad Sair Ali, Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa, Justice Ghulam Rabbani and Justice Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday was hearing Hajj corruption case.
The court asked Attorney General for Pakistan that how former Justice Riaz Kiyani had been appointed as secretary of human rights ministry. "What is the administrative experience of retired generals who have been appointed as secretaries," Chief Justice asked, adding that their efficiency can be judged from the fact that they were not able to settle PIA employees' strike matter.
Meanwhile, director legal FIA Azam Khan told the court that they had traced three bank accounts of former religious affair minster Hamid Saeed Kazmi. The bench observed that Kazmi committed corruption in Haj arrangements, thus he was liable to be proceeded in accordance with law. When Justice Ramday inquired about minister's source of income, the FIA official said that that he was running a seminary.
When the learned judge asked the official can a seminary income be used personally or for imparting religious education to the orphans, the FIA official said the minster had informed the agency that one of his followers deposited money in Faisalabad bank, while in another bank account 60,000 pounds were deposited by his brother, who lives in UK.
Hussain Asghar, investigation officer FIA informed the court that action against ex-minister would be taken in accordance with law, as the matter was already before the apex court. Justice Chaudhry reprimanded FIA officials for their incompetence in arresting persons involved in Hajj scam, saying the agency leave no stone unturned in arresting an ordinary citizen in middle of the night and even don't spare women...then what is the hitch in arresting Kazmi and others.
The court was also informed that FIA officials could not arrest Faiz - one of the accused in Haj corruption, during its recent visit to Saudi Arabia. However, all out efforts were underway to arrest him as Saudi authorities have assured full co-operation in this regard, the court was told.
The court was further informed that Saudi authorities had informed FIA that officials of Pakistan Directorate of Hajj in Saudi Arabia had asked Saudi agents to give inflated rates for accommodations to the pilgrims but refused to give that in writing or an official statement in this regard.
The FIA officials said that Ahmed Faiz went to Saudi Arabia on a valid visa but now his visa had been expired. On a query of the bench about his family, they said that his family was living in Saudi Arabia illegally and it would take six months to repatriate them back to Pakistan.
Expressing annoyance over performance of FIA officials, the court asked attorney general to talk to prime minister about poor performance of FIA officials in Haj corruption case. Chief Justice made it clear to additional DG FIA Javed Hussain Bukhari that if he failed to do his job efficiently and without any pressure, action would be taken against him. The hearing was adjourned till February 15.
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