ISLAMABAD – The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to expedite investigation against the accused involved in the Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) corruption scam. A two-member SC bench of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and Justice Ghulam Rabbani directed the lawyer for PSM, Fakhruddin G Ebrahim, to present an interim forensic report within a month.
Ebrahim told the court that PSM management had engaged a company to prepare the forensic audit report and the company would take three months to preparing the same, therefore, more time was needed to finalise the report. However, the bench turned down the request. The lawyer told the court that cases had been registered against 10 accused, of which nine were granted bails by various courts.
The chief justice said it was their right to get bails, however, the PSM should focus on minimising its losses and ensuring transparent investigation into the losses.
He said the court had taken suo motu notice of the scam, however, it was the PSM’s responsibility to recover the embezzled money. While presenting a report on the matter, Industries and Production Secretary Abdul Ghaffar Soomro told the court that 469 dealers purchased material from PSM on reduced prices, which was one of the reasons for the losses. He said the PSM management was equally responsible for the losses, which had been estimated at Rs 37.5 billion in the last two years.
