Daily Times

LAHORE: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has decided to bring back one of the accused in record tampering case of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), Tariq Mehmood, through the Interpol by issuing a red warrant.

According to sources, SECP Commissioner Tariq Mehmood, after giving his witness statements in forgery case of Chaudhry Sugar Mills of the ruling Sharif family, has fled the country. Sources told Daily Times that FIA has located him in Sri Lanka and that he will be arrested soon after release of his warrants by next week. Tariq Mehmood was appointed as Commissioner of the Company Law Division, Support Services Division, Appellate Bench and PLAD in SECP in 2010. Earlier, he served as executive director (Enforcement) since 2006. He joined the SECP in 1989. He is also a member of the National Council of the ICMAP and the South Asian Federation of Accountants (SAFA). According to the sources, the JIT formed to investigate Panama case had found the involvement of Tariq. He had reportedly instructed his subordinates, especially Maheen Fatima, through emails to temper the record of Chaudhry Sugar Mills and close the inquiry file in back dates.

Sources said Maheen has already given a confessional statement to the FIA in which she claimed that she was pressurized by not only SECP dismissed chairman Zafar Hijazi but also by Commissioner Tariq Mehmmod to temper the record by using her laptop. Another official of the SECP, Ali Azeem, has also confessed before the FIA about the direct involvement of Tariq in the tempering case.

Tariq, however, has denied any connection with alleged tampering.

Published in Daily Times, July 28^th , 2017.