ISLAMABAD – Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) leaders filed a joint application in the Supreme Court (SC) on Friday seeking registration of a criminal case against Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Additional Director General Zafar Ahmed Qureshi under Section 193 and Section 500 of the Pakistan Penal Code for making false allegations against them. PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, Chaudhry Parvez Elahi, Chaudhry Wajahat Hussain and Moonis Elahi filed the petition through their counsels SM Zafar, Wasim Sajjad and Dr Khalid Ranjha, making the FIA DG the respondent.
The application also requested that the court hold the DG in contempt. The application stated that on February 17, Qureshi, who was supervising investigations into the National Insurance Company Limited (NICL) scam, had told the SC that he had received death threats from the PML-Q leaders. Qureshi had requested the SC – during a hearing of the NICL scam case – to bring it on the record that if he were to die an unnatural death, the Chaudhrys and Warraichs would be responsible for it, and the court had granted Bhatti’s request.
Attorney General Anwarul Haq, who had appeared in court later in another case, was told about the development and the chief justice said that the court was not passing an order but it was the duty of the attorney general to ensure that the FIA officer continued performing his duties freely and without threat.
Moonis had been accused of being one of the beneficiaries of the scam and receiving Rs 220 million as graft. The amount was transferred to his account from the Al-Tahoor Company, which he owned. Qureshi had told the court that warrant for Moonis’ arrest was issued by a court on January 8, but he left the country on January 20. The FIA official had said that so far Rs 1.68 billion had been recovered in the investigation of the scam, however, he was not satisfied with the pace of probe and ordered a revaluation of the property which had been attached.
