LAHORE: Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) set a new precedent on Thursday by inviting one of the prime suspects of the Broadsheet case Ahmer Bilal Soofi to ‘celebrate’ International Anti-Corruption Day.
In the pictures, shared by the FIA on social media, it is quite evident that Soofi not only sat on the stage side by side with DG FIA Sanaullah Abbasi but also lectured the FIA fraternity over ‘corruption’ and ways to ‘fight’ this menace.
In the broadsheet scam, Pakistan had to suffer a loss of several billions of rupees [$ 28 million].
Read more: In a first, FIA to probe NAB officials for alleged criminal negligence in Broadsheet case
The event chaired by DG FIA Sanaullah Abbasi was attended by the senior officers of the FIA.
According to a press release issued by the FIA, Ahmer Bilal Soofi, leading law expert, and Shahzad Ali Khan, Vice Chancellor Health Sciences Academy were also among the participants.
It may be pertinent to mention here that only a few weeks back, the Federal Law Ministry had given a nod to probe the officials of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) including its former chairmen and other accused including Ahmer Bilal Soofi.
Talking to Bol News, Ahmer Bilal Soofi confirmed that he had attended an event of the FIA on Thursday. He said the FIA hasn’t summoned him yet for questioning in the broadsheet case.
DG FIA Sanaullah Abbasi was approached for his comments but he preferred not to respond till the filing of this report.
Similarly, efforts were also made to reach Federal Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad and Federal Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry but they too did not respond.
Read more: Broadsheet commission report: Record of $1.5mn payment missing
Earlier in January 2021, the Federal Government of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) formed a one-man commission led by Justice (retd) Sheikh Azmat Saeed to probe the execution of contract and payments to a UK-based Broadsheet firm in connection with investigation into offshore properties of the Pakistani politicians.
The commission, having representation of the FIA, was formed with a task to investigate and fix responsibility on the accused in 45 days after a British court gave verdict against Pakistan in the Broadsheet case.
Broadsheet LLC was engaged by the NAB in 2000 to trace off-shore assets of Pakistani nationals but the agreement was cancelled in 2003. The government had paid $28 million to the firm in damages just a few months back.
The commission completed the probe in March and submitted its report to the Prime Minister’s Office. Similarly, on the recommendations of the commission, the federal cabinet had allowed criminal proceedings against former caretaker law minister Ahmer Bilal Soofi, the then legal consultant of NAB Hassan Saqib Sheikh, former deputy director and desk officer of Broadsheet LLC for NAB Ghulam Rasool, former joint secretary of law ministry Abdul Basit, former deputy high commissioner of Pakistani in the UK Shahid Ali Baig, former director audit and accounts at the Pakistan High Commission UK Tariq Fawad Malik.
Following the directions of the federal cabinet, the DG FIA had appointed Additional Director General FIA (North) Abu Bakar Khuda Bakhsh as supervisory officer of the case which never started due to some legal issues. A few weeks back, the Law Ministry permitted FIA to proceed against all the accused including NAB officials for causing a loss of billions of rupees in the broadsheet case.
