Supreme Court orders FIA to arrest PM’s ex-advisor

The Supreme Court directed Director General of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to arrest former media advisor to Prime Minister Khurram Rasool by January 24 in Rs530 million fraud else action would be taken against him.

“The DG, FIA should be ready to face legal action if he fails to present the accused in the court by January 24,” the chief Justice warned.

However, the Prime Minister House clarified that Khurram Rasool had never served as media advisor to the premier.

The court issued the orders on a petition filed by a businessman Pervaiz Hussain through his counsel Rashid Rizvi alleging that the former adviser had extorted Rs530 million on the pretext of managing liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) quota and oil export licence to NATO forces in Afghanistan.

The petitioner claimed that LPG quota and oil export licence were to be awarded to his companies, Sahara Gas and Pak Delta Enterprises.

Counsel of the petitioner, Rashid A. Rizvi maintained that Rasool had extorted the amount through fake bank accounts, in connivance with his brother Shahid Mehmood and two friends, Ghulam Ghaus and Zafar Javed.

During the hearing, the chief justice asked DG FIA why his department was not arresting Rasool. “It means a police inspector cannot arrest a man sitting in the prime minister house,” the chief justice remarked. The court observed that FIA was intentionally not arresting Rasool.

DG FIA Tehseen Shah told the court that raids were being carried out to arrest the accused but his location has not been traced so far.

Upon this, Justice Khilji Arif Hussain said why court should believe him. “FIA knows that all which we do in our homes,” he remarked adding, “FIA arrests a person within moments if it wants.

The chief justice said “Had you (Rizvi) been an influential person, the accused could have been arrested so far.” He observed that FIA did not arrest the accused despite Federal Secretary Nargis Sethi lodged an FIR against him in March last year.

Rizvi informed the court that a report was also registered against Rasool on March 11, 2010 but he was still at large. He prayed the court to order FIA for arresting him so that investigation may be initiated against him.

The petitioner added that on March 19, 2011 a judge of the district courts issued warrants for the arrest of the accused, which is still at large. He contended that the FIA had so far failed to arrest the accused because he was a close aide of the Prime Minister.

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Posted by Faisal Farooq on Jan 21 2012. Filed under National, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.