The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has sought assistance of the British newspaper, The Sun, in connection with the investigation of a alleged passport scam.
In a letter written to the editor of The Sun, the FIA said, “The aforesaid report and video prepared by The Sun in this regard do not match facts as unearthed by us, hence, we would like to have some substantial and concrete evidence from you in support of the above.”
It said following the “disclosure of alleged Pakistani racket passports gang as published in your newspaper on July 23, the government in Pakistan undertook an extensive investigation into the scam”.
In this regard, the FIA registered a case under relevant laws to reach the truth.
“The allegations leveled in The Sun are of very serious nature, which need strong evidence to prove the scam.”
It said the information about government functionaries and agents, if any who allegedly received illegal gratification from Muhammad Ali Asad for providing him computerised national identity card (CNIC) and passport expeditiously, can help FIA identify them and take suitable legal action against them.”
The FIA said The Sun newspaper’s cooperation in this regard might help the FIA in identifying and nabbing corrupt functionaries likely to be involved in this alleged scam.
A case has been registered against Ali Asad in the alleged passport scam and the British government has been asked to deport him.
Rehman Malik has said the story in The Sun about alleged passport scam was a conspiracy to bring Pakistan into bad name.
He said as Ali Asad colluded with The Sun in a bid to malign Pakistan, “we are writing to the British government for his deportation to face criminal proceedings. The facts gathered during investigations have also been sent to the British newspaper through Pakistan High Commission in London”.
Travel agent Abid Chaudhry is also being interrogated by the FIA.
