LAHORE: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Lahore head and 10 other officers/officials have been transferred with immediate effect reportedly on matters related to the Passco and Lesco probe.

FIA Lahore head Sarfraz Virk, who is a BS-20 officer of Police Service of Pakistan, is transferred with immediate effect and directed to report to the establishment division.

Similarly, 10 other FIA officers/officials — deputy director Mian Muhammad Sabir, assistant directors Naeem Akhtar, Zawar Ahmed and Zeeshan Khokhar, inspectors Shahzeb Khan and Naeem Sajid, assistant sub-inspectors Shouzeb Mukhtar, Sohail Salamat and Imtiaz Niazi, and assistant sub-inspector Ansar Saifullah Malhi — were also transferred on Saturday and directed to report to the office of the additional director general (north) FIA headquarters, Islamabad.

A source privy to the development told Dawn that investigations into the affairs of Passco and Lesco happened to be the reasons behind this transfer of a good number of FIA Lahore officials.

“The FIA in the light of the PMIT’s (Prime Minister Inspection Team) investigation had laid a hand on one of the ‘top men’ of the Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Services Corporation (Passco), in a wheat procurement scam. However, that did not go down well with some top men in the federal government resulting in sacking of the Lahore director FIA (Mr Virk),” the source said, citing ‘excellent’ performance of Lahore wing in taking action against those involved in the wheat scam.

The FIA last month had arrested a former general manager of Passco Zahoor Ahmad Ranjah for allegedly altering the wheat procurement policy allowing the purchase of wheat from middlemen instead of farmers through a counterfeit signature. Currently he is on judicial remand.

The source further informed that the transfer of Mr Virk and 10 other FIA officials was related to the affairs of Lahore Electric Supply Company (Lesco).

“They have been removed from their position on the report of an intelligence agency,” the official source said.

He said some of the 10 officials in question were facing corruption allegations with regard to Lesco affairs/investigation while the others had not been even part of the FIA team probing Lesco affairs for the last one year or so as they were made a scapegoat.

He said Mr Virk was wrongly implicated in the Lesco matter by the intelligence report. There have been calls in the department to hold an independent probe to find out who was involved in corruption and who faced action for touching the ‘untouchables’.

Dawn contacted both Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and Sarfraz Virk for their comments but they were not available.

Published in Dawn, September 15th, 2024