ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Thursday warned Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Director General Waseem Ahmed for adopting a lenient approach while probing into alleged corruption and mishandling of Haj affairs, calling his conduct “disappointing”.
Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry expressed surprise over the DG’s decision to entrust the investigations to a grade 16 officer. “This is a high profile case involving prestige of the country, but an FIA inspector has been appointed to investigate the matter. How could he investigate the secretary or the religious affairs minister?” the chief justice said, adding that “this is the height of negligence”.
The seven-member SC special bench headed by the chief justice was hearing the Haj scam case. The bench directed Science and Technology Minister Azam Khan Swati to submit documentary evidence substantiating corruption in Haj affairs by December 13. Swati had insisted that Religious Affairs Minister Hamid Saeed Kazmi was at the core of the corruption.
To a court query, FIA’s Waseem said there had been corruption of millions of rupees, but recoveries were yet to be made.
Waseems’ statement that an “interview” of the religious affairs minister had been conducted prompted Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday to ask him under which law had he ordered the “interview”.
“Are you a TV anchor that you are conducting interviews instead of recording statements,” Justice Ramday questioned.
