ISLAMABAD – Rejecting the Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) report over the alleged corruption of Rs 22 billion in Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM), the Supreme Court directed the FIA on Monday to arrest the real culprits involved in the scam and submit a report on February 1.
The three-member bench of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Muhammad Sair Ali and Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday was hearing a suo motu case against the alleged scam in PSM. The court warned FIA that it was being given a last chance to arrest the actual culprits, otherwise the court would take action on its own. The court also deplored the fact that FIA had arrested a watchman and a canteen owner for embezzling billions of rupees instead of arresting the actual criminals involved in the massive corruption.
Appearing on notice, FIA’s Investigation Officer Muazzam Jah presented the inquiry report, but the court expressed dissatisfaction and rejected it. Expressing dismay over the investigating officer, the court observed that his failure to probe the PSM scam would be written in his service record and he would not remain in service. Justice Ramday said FIA had become an agency for the protection of crimes.
The court then asked Industries Additional Secretary Tariq Shafi to explain why he was not taking interest in recovering public money from culprits, as it was a collective responsibility of all to work for the nation. Barrister Zafarullah Khan, who is also an applicant in the case, informed the court that according to the Auditor General’s report, embezzlements of over Rs 39 billion were carried out in PSM. He also provided some documents to the court regarding the issue. Later, the proceedings were adjourned until February 1.
