Hajj scam: Premier’s son warned to show up or face arrest

By Zahid Gishkori
Published: February 15, 2011
FIA summons Qadir Gilani for questioning in connection with alleged embezzlement in Hajj arrangements.
ISLAMABAD: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has formally summoned MPA Abdul Qadir Gilani, son of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, in connection with the alleged embezzlement in last year’s Hajj arrangements and threatened with possible arrest. The FIA will seek a perpetual arrest warrant for Qadir if he fails to appear for questioning a second time. The warning by the legal directorate has been attached to the notice summoning him for interrogation.

Qadir Gilani has been accused of receiving the “lion’s share” in the multi-million-rupee Hajj scam that has cost two federal ministers their jobs. Former minister for religious affairs Hamid Saeed Kazmi is on interim bail.

“Yes, we have issued a notice to Qadir Gilani asking him to appear before the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) constituted for the Hajj scam,” Director-General FIA Wasim Ahmad confirmed to The Express Tribune.

The FIA summoned Qadir to record his statement before the JIT in light of the Supreme Court’s directive last week. He was to appear before the JIT on Monday, but he did not show up. The notice is accompanied by a questionnaire consisting of close to a dozen queries. Some of the leading questions are reproduced below. They present a snapshot of the charges against Qadir and may be answered with a yes or no.

“Did you (Qadir) receive a ‘lion’s share’ of the money embezzled during arrangements made for the annual pilgrimage? Did you import a black Toyota Prado Land Cruiser and pay Rs8.5 million as import duty with this money? Did former DG Hajj Rao Shakil Ahmad give you this money for the import of this bulletproof vehicle? Was the money transferred to you from Saudi Arabia through Zain Sukhera’s accounts? Did you pressurise Hamid Saeed Kazmi to get special quota for pilgrims last year?”

The JIT’s chief investigator Hussain Asghar is said to have confirmed that Qadir received over Rs20 million from former DG Hajj and imported a costly vehicle from the United Arab Emirates last year.

Sources said that Qadir refused to appear before the FIA team on Monday. However, PPP senior minister Punjab Tanvir Ashraf Kaira, when contacted, did not comment.

Information Technology (IT) consultant Zain Sukhera, a close friend of Qadir Gilani, resigned on Monday. Sources told The Express Tribune that Sukhera obtained a fake LLM degree on the basis of which he had been awarded the post. He has been pinpointed as Qadir’s facilitator in the hajj scam.

DG FIA Wasim Ahmad has appointed his staff officer Us­man Zakaria as the new Direc­tor Interpol. Hussain As­ghar, who was heading the Interpol wing, has been appointed as head of the Administration Wing in
FIA. He will continue to head the JIT.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 15th, 2011.

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Govt, judiciary back away from confrontation
By Azam Khan
Published: July 30, 2011

Parliament is the mother of all state institutions therefore it is supreme over every institution, says government. PHOTO: NNI
ISLAMABAD:

The executive and judicial branches of government appeared to take steps back from the brink of confrontation on Friday, with the Supreme Court clarifying its earlier orders for the reinstatement of the establishment secretary, thereby reducing pressure on the PPP-led government.

While the court ordered the government to reinstate Sohail Ahmed as establishment secretary – one of the three highest positions in the federal civil service – it acknowledged that the government had the right to assign him a new post, but not to punish him for following the court’s orders. It said that the government was free to transfer him to a different position over the next seven days.

“Sohail Ahmed will remain establishment secretary until the new appointment,” the court order said, adding “if Sohail Ahmed is not given a new appointment within seven days, his notification [as officer on special duty] would be considered as null and void.”

The government, for its part, seemed to accept the court’s decision. Speaking to journalists outside the Supreme Court building after the hearing, Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq termed the decision “a good one”.

“Under the prevailing conditions, it was a beautiful decision,” said the attorney general.

Former law minister Babar Awan also welcomed the decision, saying: “Today, the court has set criteria for posting and transferring bureaucrats.”

Many people would be disappointed when they hear that there was no confrontation between the judiciary and the executive, he added.

On Friday, a six-member bench of the Supreme Court was conducting hearings into the Hajj embezzlement scandal, in which former religious affairs minister Hamid Saeed Kazmi has already been implicated.

The controversy over the court’s orders regarding civil service appointments began when the government decided to transfer Hussain Asghar, then an additional director general at the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), from his position as the lead investigating officer on the Hajj scandal, allegedly when his findings began taking a direction the government was uncomfortable with.

(Read: Confrontation unending)

Asghar was posted to Gilgit-Baltistan as the Inspector General of Police of the province. The court had ordered the establishment secretary, a position then held by Sohail Ahmed, to reinstate Asghar, an order with which Ahmed complied.

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, however, was incensed that Ahmed violated his orders and made him an officer on special duty (OSD), citing as his reason the fact that the establishment secretary is not empowered to transfer officers above grade 21 (the second highest in the civil service).

On Tuesday, the court had ordered the FIA chief to reinstate Asghar as the lead investigator on the Hajj case. On Friday, however, the attorney general reported to the Supreme Court that government of Gilgit-Baltistan is unwilling to let go of Asghar’s services as the provincial police chief until the government offers a replacement appointment.

On Thursday, Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Minister Mehdi Shah and members of the G-B legislature expressed concerns over the Supreme Court order, saying they were happy with Asghar’s services and did not want to give him up.

The judges, however, were agitated at the attorney general’s response, with Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry saying that “a simple matter is being made complicated.”

Justice Akhtar Shahid Siddiqui asked Anwarul Haq if he felt the Gilgit-Baltistan government’s position was justified, to which the attorney general replied that he did not think so.

Justice Khilji Arif Hussain said the government did not seem willing to implement the court’s orders, adding that “Hussain Asghar would have arrived from Gilgit-Baltistan in 45 minutes if the government had willingness to get him back.”

The attorney general said that the government had implemented the court’s decision, though the chief justice retorted that the implementation was on paper only.

Hearings on the case were adjourned until an as yet unspecified date. (With additional input from APP)

Published in The Express Tribune, July 30th, 2011.