LAHORE: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Wednesday told a special court for banking offence that a final decision to arrest Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s estranged leader Jahangir Khan Tareen and his son would be taken after completion of investigation in an FIR of fake bank accounts.

Tareen along with his son Ali appeared before the court to attend hearing of his pre-arrest bail petition in the case.

His counsel Salman Safdar told the court that the FIA registered three FIRs against his client. He said Tareen had provided a complete money trail of his business to the FIA. He said a sessions court directed the agency to complete its investigation in the other two FIRs by May 31.

FIA Deputy Director Chand Ashraf said it would take time to complete the investigation as the record was being examined.

Judge Ameer Muhammad Khan asked the official as if the FIA wanted to arrest Tareen and his son. The official did not give a clear answer, however, said a decision in this regard would be taken after the completion of the investigation.

The judge extended the pre-arrest bail of both till May 31.

Earlier, the sugar mogul and his son also appeared before the court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Hamid Hussain for the hearing of bail in two other FIRs. The FIA official presented an initial inquiry report to the judge and said one of the nominated suspects namely Amjad Pervez had not joined the investigation so far.

Barrister Salman Safdar claimed that all employees of the Tareen group nominated in the FIRs joined the investigation. He further said a complete record had been furnished to the agency.

The judge warned the investigating officer of show-cause notice if he failed to complete the investigation by May 31. The judge also extended the pre-arrest bail of Tareen and Ali till the next hearing.

MNA Raja Riaz, MPAs Nazir Chauhan, Khurram Leghari and chief minister’s special coordinator Aun Chaudhry were among the prominent leaders of the PTI who accompanied Tareen to the court.

Published in Dawn, May 20th, 2021