Daily Times

LAHORE: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Monday registered a case against former Pakistani Ambassador to the United States Husain Haqqani.

The case was registered in the Anti-Corruption Circle of the FIA in relation to the Memogate scandal.

According to media reports, Haqqani is accused of embezzlement worth $7.2 million in the secret fund.

The FIA has asked the Foreign Ministry for details on the Pakistani embassy to investigate the matter further.

In a detailed response on the matter, Haqqani told Daily Times, “False charges have been filed against me six years after my resignation. These charges have been manufactured after Interpol turned down an earlier request by the FIA, under instructions from Supreme Court, for a red corner notice against me for refusing to return to a country where I feel my life is under threat. The purpose behind filing of these charges is just to meet Interpol’s criteria for warrants, because Interpol does not get involved in political cases.

“I am confident that Interpol and others outside Pakistan will see the absolute lack of credibility in this politically motivated exercise aimed at silencing a critic of the Pakistani state’s wrong policies, including its support for jihadi terrorism.

“This case will go nowhere not only because it is without basis but also because Pakistan’s politicised judiciary and law enforcement have no respect or influence left outside Pakistan.

“I intend to carry on with my life and let the FIA and the hidden hands behind it figure out how to fulfill their fantasy of forcing my return to Pakistan on false charges.”

In February, the Supreme Court had issued arrest warrants for the production of the former ambassador in relation to the Memogate scandal. In the hearing, the apex court directed secretaries of the interior and foreign ministries, as well as the FIA chief, to furnish a report on Haqqani’s return.

Later, when the federal authorities approached the Interpol, their request for Haqqani’s arrest was turned down on grounds that it was a political matter and was not covered under the international agency’s charter.

Responding to reports of the warrants, Haqqani had stated on Twitter that it was ‘sad that the highest court of Pakistan persists with such antics for local TV news coverage. Such political ‘warrants’ have not been honored abroad in the past, won’t work now’.

The Memogate scandal emerged in 2011 when Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz claimed to have received a memo from Haqqani, the then-Pakistan envoy in Washington DC, addressed to US joint chiefs of staff chairman Admiral Mike Mullen.

Published in Daily Times, March 13^th 2018.