Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: After day-and-a-half-long medical examination, the medical board of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) on Saturday decided to admit Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) Chairman Zafar Hijazi to the hospital for further treatment.

According to details, a day earlier, the SECP chairman was taken to PIMS under custody of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) soon after the rejection of his bail plea on record tampering charges.

Sources disclosed that the PIMS administration constituted a five-member board of doctors to properly examine Hijazi and compile a medical report accordingly. The medical board consisted of Dr Naeem Ul Haq as head and Dr Sajid Qazi, Dr Sohail, Dr Shaji and Dr Faisal Kakar as members.

A doctor, who was privy to the matter, said on the condition of anonymity that the board would examine the chairman’s ailments for which he had been brought. He said that Hijazi had multiples diseases, including those related to heart, kidneys, diabetes and blood pressure.

Another doctor said that Hijazi has minor diseases, and it looks as if senior leadership of the ruling party was trying to save the chairman from going to jail and get punished under the prescribed procedure.

On the other hand, medical board member Dr Faisal Kakar told journalists on Saturday that Hijazi had heart problem due to which he had been admitted to the hospital.

To a question, Dr Kakar said that currently the chairman was in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

Dr Kakar further claimed that some medical tests had been run, which indicted that the patient had kidney diseases. “The patient’s one kidney is functioning,” he added.

He said that the chairman also had breathing problem for which angiography would taken in place. He said that the patient had been under observation of doctors throughout the night.

The doctors, he said, found that the patient also had urinary problem. Dr Kakar also made it clear that during the medical treatment of Hijazi, no one would be allowed to hold any kind of investigation – whether it was the FIA or any other institution.

He said that the chairman was in very critical condition and at this stage any sort of mental pressure on him might damage his psychological condition. “Hijazi sb is already suffering from severe depression,” he said. To a question, Dr Kakar said that the board did not have any kind of pressure from the government or any other institution.

On the other hand, PIMS Vice Chancellor Dr Javed Akarm told Daily Times that most probably Hijazi would be kept at the facility for treatment for another four days.

Meanwhile, the special court on Saturday remanded Zafar Hijazi in FIA’s custody for four days in the record tampering case.

Hijazi was produced before the special court, where FIA investigators sought his physical remand.

On Friday, the FIA took Hijazi into custody from the premises of the special court, where he had appeared for the confirmation of his pre-arrest bail.

The Joint Investigation Team (JIT), which had probed into the Sharif family’s offshore assets in line with the apex court’s April 20 verdict, alleged that the SECP chairman tampered with the records of the Sharif’s sugar mills.

Subsequently, the FIA launched an investigation into the allegations on the directives of the Supreme Court, and later endorsed the JIT’s claim.

On July 10, FIA’s Special Investigation Unit (SIU) lodged an FIR against him under sections 466 and 471 of PPC read with 5(2) 47, the Prevention of Corruption Act.

However, the Islamabad High Court granted him a transitory bail against surety bonds to the tune of Rs 10,000 until July 17, with directions to appear before the proper forum. Later, the special court also granted him a bail against a surety bond of Rs 0.5 million until July 21.

However, the court rejected the bail plea and Hijazi was arrested by the FIA. Hijazi fell ill in FIA custody and subsequently he was rushed to PIMS hours after his arrest. Since then, Hijazi is under treatment at PIMS and was brought to the courtroom from hospital.

Published in Daily Times, July 23^rd 2017.