NICL scam: SC orders investigation against DG FIA

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) has ordered the investigation against DG FIA Waseem Ahmed into allegedly providing protection to an accused in NICL scandal case, Geo News reported on Tuesday.

A three-member bench of the apex court, comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Muhammad Sair Ali and Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday, was hearing a suo motu case against the alleged corruption of over Rs5 billion in the NICL affairs.

The order was issued on the statement of an FIA official that the DG FIA was protecting an accused, Amin Qaim Dada. Director FIA, Sindh, Moazzam Jah told the court that they could not arrest Amin Dada because when they raided, Wasim Ahmed was with him.

On this, the court ordered immediate arrest of DG FIA. But the investigation officer informed the court that the matter was prior to the registration of the case. The court, then ordered investigation against the top FIA official.

The bench ordered Zafar Qureshi to record the statement of Moazzam Jah and the registration of a case against Wasim Ahmed if proven guilty of protecting an accused.

The apex court was informed on Monday that an arrested accused of Rs5 billion corruption scam in the National Insurance Company Limited (NICL) had told the investigators that he had given Rs220 million to Moonis Elahi, the son of former Punjab chief minister Ch Pervaiz Elahi, from the plundered money.

Appearing on notice, Deputy Director of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Zafar Qureshi, told the court that Muhammad Malick, an arrested accused of the NICL scam, had admitted that he had given Rs220 million from the plundered amount to Moonis Elahi. He said the accused was the Manager of Al-Tahoor International, a company owned by Moonis Elahi.

Secretary Interior Qamar Zaman told the court that Zafar Qureshi has been assigned to investigate the scam. The chief justice had expressed annoyance over the transfer of Zafar Iqbal Qureshi, who has been supervising the NICL scam since the last year, but has now been posted at the Police Foundation, Islamabad.

Later, the hearing was adjourned till February 01.