ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Minister for Interior Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Thursday directed Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to catch persons involved in mega corruption cases and pursue their cases in courts in a comprehensive manner.
The minister while chairing a high level meeting here about performance of FIA, said as inquiries in mega corruption scandals including Pakistan State Oil (PSO) have been completed, the agency should arrest the responsible of wrongdoings.
Ch. Nisar Ali Khan was also informed about human trafficking, mega corruption scandals including Employees Old-age Benefits Institution (EOBI) scam, Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) scandal, Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) fraud and wrongdoings in Pakistan State Oil (PSO).
He said legal wing of the FIA should be strong enough to pursue different corruption cases as it was pointed out that the persons involved in corruption scams were getting bails from the courts.
The Minister said he only expects from FIA to ensure justice and curb corruption.
Nisar said those involved in human trafficking were earning bad name for country and exploiting innocent and needy people.
He said sometimes precious lives are lost in an attempt to sending people abroad illegally that was a matter of great concern and added that such elements deserve no leniency and strict action should be taken against them.
The minister directed the FIA to chalk out a comprehensive strategy that could yield noticeable results. He also directed the officials to prepare a proposal to have a separate FIA Detention Centre to ensure safety.
Talking about various incidents of human smuggling as indicated by the media, the minister said all relevant departments should play their due role in this regard with the help of civil society and the media.
He directed FIA to collect relevant data and share that with the provincial governments so that those involved in this business could be unveiled and such incidents could be controlled effectively.
FIA should further streamline helpline for information and complaints regarding human smuggling and trafficking.
With regard to crime data of enquiries, the officials briefed the minister that during 10 months (January to October) of this year, the total number was 12055 out of which 4129 converted into cases, 5610 closed or transferred while 2316 are still pending.
The FIA had arrested 1,200 proclaimed offenders during the period and 11,500 cases were pending in different courts.
He directed the agency to move a summary regarding payment of share to FIA officers from the money recovered in corruption cases and also directed that internal accountability mechanism should be made stronger.
The meeting was also informed that the agency has assured recovery of Rs. 6 billion in EOBI embezzlement scam.
Similarly, the officials informed that in ETPB case, the agency has successfully managed to recover precious land in cooperation with the Punjab government which was being illegally allotted since 1952.
The land has been returned to ETPB, the officials said and added that the ETPB employees involved in this corruption would also be arrested.
With regard to Exact Scandal, the meeting was informed that the cases in this scam are in courts and further investigation was being conducted. The FIA also got some information related to the case which was sought from United States and other countries.
The minister said he desires that there must be a concept of reward and punishment in FIA and those who are performing better would be given incentives.
With regard to temporarily suspension of ‘readmission agreement’ with European Union, the Minister said he took action on receiving reports of blatant violation of the agreement by some EU countries.
The minister said the derogatory attitude with expatriate Pakistanis is unacceptable. Pakistan will only accept the deported illegal Pakistanis only after confirmation of their documents, citizenship and involvement in crime.
Pakistan will never accept a deported person having allegations of terrorism, till provision of proof, he added.
As per agreement, inked in 2009 with EU countries, it was imperative to confirm the citizenship of the illegal Pakistani from the government of Pakistan before deporting him. He said new SOPs are being prepared in this regard which would help improve the system.
Source: APP
