NICL scam probe could be transferred to NAB: CJ

The Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry has remarked that the National Insurance Company Limited (NICL) investigation could be transferred to the National Accountability Bureau if the Federal Investigation Agency would fail to conduct a fair investigation.

The chief justice made these remarks during the hearing of the NICL scam case in the Supreme Court here on Tuesday. A three-member bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Khilji Arif Hussain and Justice Tariq Parvez heard the case.

Court issued notices to secretary interior, DG FIA, director FIA Lahore Waqar Haider Bhatti and Assistant Director Legal Zulfiqar Ali and sought their written replies within a week.

Court also issued notices to Attorney General for Pakistan for further assistance and directed office to provide relevant record to AG. Court directed DG FIA to answer the court that why he not signed the investigation reports against the court order.

Former additional director general of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Zafar Qureshi told the Supreme Court that Moonis Elahi was acquitted by a Lahore court before the investigation of the National Insurance Company Limited (NICL) case could be concluded.

Qureshi said that Moonis Elahi’s assets worth Rs22.5 million were seized by his investigation team, adding that these seized assets were released on a letter of FIA officials and that Elahi was acquitted “even before a regular trial”.

Qureshi said he had unearthed financial irregularities in the scandal and had linked them to Moonis Elahi. He added that his investigation could not be completed because of the lax attitude of the director general of the FIA. Qureshi said his investigation could not be completed due to this non-cooperation and also said that he retired on September 30.

Qureshi said he was in the process of preparing a final challan against Elahi when he was acquitted.

He said the Lahore FIA chief Waqar Haider and assistant director Zulfiqar came up with fictitious letters which they sent to the bank. In accordance with these letters, the bank released the money that was retrieved during the probe back to Elahi.

Qureshi also told the court that he has written at least 10 letters to the DG, FIA and interior secretary apprising them of the conduct of Waqar and ZUlfiqar, but no action was taken against them and they never bother to reply to letters.

He also said that he had given proof of money laundering to the DG FIA but was told that the agency did not have the jurisdiction to bring the money back.
After hearing Qureshi’s statements, the chief justice said that if the FIA does not deliver with regard to the investigation, the court can assign the probe to the National Accountability Bureau.

He also summoned Zulfiqar and Waqar on November 2 so they can explain why they failed to cooperate with Qureshi.
Meanwhile, Dr. Babar Awan appeared before the court and contended that he would not press petition file by him on the behalf of Moonis Illahi.

Whereas Waseem Sajjad appeared on behalf of Chaudhry Shujaat and said that some time may be granted to him for further instructions that whether they would press petition or not against Zafar Qureshi. It is worth mentioning here that Chaudhry brothers filed petition against Qureshi on allegations leveled in the court that he has life threat from Chaudhries.

It is worth mentioning here that last week a banking court of Lahore acquitted the main accused in the case, Moonis Elahi.

During the hearing the court was informed that replies of former three interior secretaries namely Qamar Zaman Chaudhry, Abdul Rauf Chaudhry and Khusnood Lashari have been submitted in the court.

The court adjourned the hearing of the case till 2nd of November. SANA