ISLAMABAD: The government informed the Supreme Court on Wednesday that Ahmed Faiz, a principal accused in the 2010 Haj scam, had been detained by the Saudi authorities, but a written confirmation about his arrest and status of the proceedings for his extradition to Pakistan were still awaited.

Attorney General Salman Aslam Butt told a three-judge bench headed by Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja hearing the Haj scandal case that Ahmed Faiz had been arrested on July 7.

At the last hearing on July 2, the court had asked the attorney general to submit a report on steps taken by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and other departments to secure Faiz’s custody.

A report submitted by the AG office said information about the arrest of Ahmed Faiz had been provided by the FIA which tried to identify, locate and get the accused back to Pakistan.

Faiz’s extradition to Pakistan will take some time

Initially, the response of Saudi Arabia where the accused had been living as an illegal immigrant was not forthcoming, the report said, adding that intelligence agencies reported that he had been constantly changing his address in the kingdom to avoid arrest. The FIA has used diplom help trace the accused.

The report said the Foreign Office had also issued a demarche to the Saudi Embassy in Pakistan for the delay in arresting the accused.

Also see: SC issues verdict in Hajj corruption case

Director General of Foreign Affairs Middle East Dr Rizwan informed the court that the government was doing its best to bring Ahmed Faiz back to Pakistan but it would take some time because of some procedures the Saudi government had to complete.

The court ordered the government to submit a detailed report highlighting the reasons for the delay in Faiz’s extradition to Pakistan, although the Haj scandal case was initiated in 2010.

Published in Dawn, July 10th, 2014