Sugar scam inquiry: Why was Dr Rizwan removed as the head of the JIT?

• FIA officer Dr Mohammad Rizwan has been removed as head of the JIT probing the sugar scam.
• The FIA officer reportedly sought permission to summon a federal minister.
• He also wanted to arrest Jahangir Tareen for his alleged role in the sugar scam.

LAHORE: The head of the Joint Investigation Team probing the sugar scam was removed for taking action against a sugar mill owned by the family of Federal Minister for Industries, Khurso Bukhtiyar, and seeking arrest orders for estranged PTI leader Jahangir Khan Tareen, sources told Geo News.

According to details, Director FIA Lahore Dr Mohammad Rizwan, who was heading the JIT probing the sugar scam, was sacked after he sought approval to summon the federal minister for owning shares worth Rs130 million in the Two Star Sugar Mills.

The TV reported that the FIA officer had also sought permission to arrest disgruntled PTI leader Jahangir Tareen. After he refused to budge, Rizwan was asked to stop performing his duties as the commission's head. 

It is not clear whether he has been sacked from the FIA as well or not.

Sources said the investigation team was also expected to file cases against five more sugar mills owners for their alleged role in the scandal.

It is pertinent to mention that currently five FIRs have been filed in the sugar scam - three against the Tareen family and one against the family of PML-N president Shehbaz Sharif.

They added that the sugar inquiry has now been handed over to Additional DG FIA Abu Bakar Khuda Baksh, who will lead the team and start the investigation from scratch.

‘Controversial inquiry team’

Earlier this month, Jahangir Tareen had called for a “fair team” to investigate his case, as he believed the officers investigating him were “controversial”.

“[Hold an] inquiry but make a transparent team that is not controversial. The team that is [currently] investigating is not fair,” Jahangir Tareen had told the media after making appearances before sessions and banking courts for an extension in his bail.

Read more: Jahangir Tareen claims he has support of 40 PTI lawmakers

The PTI stalwart had further demanded that the team investigating him, should not be such that it “works on a phone call” and called for a new team to investigate him.

He had claimed that the FIR against him was “made in Islamabad and signed in Lahore", after which it was sent to the provincial capital "in a USB”.

Cases against Jahangir Tareen, son

Jahangir Tareen has been charged with fraud and money laundering.

A Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Lahore investigation team registered a case of alleged fraud of Rs3.14 billion on March 22 against them.

The FIR states that Jahangir Tareen allegedly transferred illegal shares worth billions of rupees to Farooqi Pulp Mills Limited (FPML), which is owned by his son and close relatives.

Read more: Stop the smear campaign, future sales are normal business activity, says PTI Leader

It says the transfers, especially after 2011-12, were "patently fraudulent investments which ultimately translated into personal gains" for Tareen's family. Some Rs3 billion were allegedly invested and laundered through the same factory, according to the FIR.

The FIR outlines when and how FPML was made back in 1991.

It includes sections 406, 420 and 109 of the Pakistan Penal Code with Section 3/4 of Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2010, and lists Rana M Shawaz as the investigation officer.

Sugar crisis of 2020 and its investigation report

Last year, PM Imran Khan had tasked the FIA to investigate the sugar crisis throughout the country and find out who benefited from it.

A report by the FIA released last year had claimed that top PTI members were among those who gained from the recent sugar crisis in the country.

Read about the hike in sugar prices in Pakistan

Among the people named in the FIA report were Jahangir Tareen and a brother of the then Minister for National Food Security Khusro Bakhtiar.

Tareen was said by the report to have benefited the most from the sugar crisis followed by Bakhtiar's brother.