ISLAMABAD: Former Haj Director General Rao Shakeel was sent to jail on Sunday on a 14-day judicial remand.
FIA officials produced Shakeel in Judicial Duty Magistrate Malik Naeem Shaukat’s court after completing his physical remand.
On a request by the FIA officials, the duty magistrate ordered that Shakeel be sent to jail on a 14-day judicial remand.
The FIA had arrested Shakeel on November 13 from his residence in Lahore for being involved in embezzlement of millions of rupees in hiring residences for Pakistani pilgrims in Saudi Arabia.
The scam surfaced when a large number of pilgrims complained that arrangements for their residences in Mecca were poor and inadequate. It was also said that Pakistan’s Haj Directorate in Saudi Arabia had hired cheap residences for the pilgrims and embezzled the money deposited with them for their stay.
The scam also led to a row between Federal Minister for Science and Technology Azam Swati and Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Hamid Saeed Kazmi. Swati had alleged that Kazmi was also involved in the embezzlement.
