Daily Times

KARACHI: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) director general has ordered reopening of pending inquires against almost 70 corrupt officers of the authority.

Officials from Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore and Quetta are included in the list.

A senior official of FIA had termed the decision a historical move while talking to Daily Times on Monday.

“Besides reopening of inquiry files, the proceeding to repatriate 35 officials to their parents departments had also been initiated.”

According to available details, these directives from the DG have been issued after the closure of the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) of FIA Headquarters in Islamabad where over four dozen inquiries into high-profile scandals were pending.

Senior officials said that, in 2014, an inquiry against 62 corrupt officials of FIA was directed to conduct at the SIU after a report was prepared by the Anti-Corruption Unit of the FIA in which it was revealed that 62 officials of FIA, mainly posted at FIA Immigration sections on airports and in various circles, were allegedly supporting human traffickers after taking huge bribes.

“This inquiry, like such other inquiries, was kept pending because of some unknown reasons despite of the fact that former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had directed to separate these officials from sensitive and important postings till the completion of the investigation against them, but still the inquiry was not completed and cases could were not registered against them,” officials added.

At that time it was decided that after the completion of the inquiries such officials who were working in the FIA on deputation would be sent back to their parent departments and notices for further proceeding would be serve to regular employees of the authority.

Recently, the issue, once again, came to the limelight when in September the interior minister ordered newly appointed FIA DG Basheer Memon to short list corrupt officials to ensure transparent investigation into mega corruption scandals.

After that, not only some officials were nominated in previous inquiry but around eight new officials were added to the list mainly from Karachi and Islamabad. Right now around 70 officials are facing graft charges while 35 officials from all four zones will have to satisfy the committee that their “amalgamation” in the FIA was according to the rules otherwise they would have to go back to their parent departments.

Published in Daily Times, November 14^th 2017.