ISLAMABAD, Jan 6: Director General of the Federal Investigation Agency Waseem Ahmed has informed the Supreme Court hearing complaints relating to massive mismanagement in the recent Haj operations that two parliamentarians in their statements recorded by the agency have accused a son of the prime minister of being involved in the scam. “Parliamentarians Pirzada Syed Ahmed Imran and Bilal Yasin have not only accused Abdul Qadir Gilani but also his close friend Zain Mohammad Sukhaira who went to Jeddah thrice even before the start of the Haj season,” the FIA chief told a seven-judge special bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, on Thursday.

He said Sukhaira had gone out of the country before the start of investigation into the scandal.

The court had taken notice on a plethora of complaints about corruption and irregularities in Haj arrangements.

Two protagonists in the drama, Religious Affairs Minister Syed Hamid Raza Kazmi who was under scrutiny over mismanagement in Haj arrangements, and Science and Technology Minister Mohammad Azam Khan Swati, who made a startling statement in the Supreme Court, have been sent home by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.

The court deplored that neither Sukhaira was quizzed nor the FIA could find out whether the prime minister’s son had also travelled to Saudi Arabia. It asked why the Pakistani ambassador to Saudi Arabia was not contacted and why the statements of two witnesses in Saudi Arabia who had approached former federal minister Azam Swati could not be recorded.

The two parliamentarians also accused former director general of Haj Rao Shakeel of embezzling Rs200 million.

Expressing disappointment over the way the FIA DG is handling the investigation, the court asked him to surrender and confess to the government that he was unable to investigate the matter independently; otherwise the court would issue an appropriate order.

The court asked Religious Affairs Secretary Shaukat Hayat Durrani to return within a week 700 Saudi riyals to each of about 26,000 pilgrims who had suffered immensely because of lack of basic amenities in Mina.

The court asked him to submit a payment schedule. Otherwise, the court warned, it would order the freezing of the ministry’s accounts.

Expressing dismay over removal of the name of Rao Shakeel from the exit control list (ECL) on a mere SMS from Interior Minister Rehman Malik, the court directed the FIA chief to record the minister’s statement in this regard. The chief justice said he was unable to understand why the FIA DG was not taking interest in the Haj scam investigation, adding that how he could perform independently when he was “slave to the wishes of his superiors” to continue with his one-year contract extended recently after his retirement.

“The defective investigation is heading nowhere,” the chief justice observed. He said the court would go to any extent to protect the cherished concept of transparency for which people had sacrificed so much.

Advocate Afnan Kundi submitted an additional statement on behalf of Azam Khan Swati expressing disappointment over FIA’s investigation and complaining that he had written several letters relating to his apprehensions over FIA’s alleged attempt to cover up certain things, but the agency did not bother to reply nor said what credible material evidence was being submitted to the apex court.

Mr Swati claimed that Pakistan’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia had informed him that Mohammad Farooq and Malik Abdul Rehman Ghulam, now living in Saudi Arabia, were willing to come to Pakistan and testify before the Supreme Court, but they needed protection. Necessary steps should be taken for their protection and the ambassador should be directed to arrange their visit to Pakistan and back, he said.

The ambassador should also be directed to contact the Saudi interior minister for the arrest of Ahmed Faiz, the main culprit in the scandal, Mr Swati said, adding that the FIA be ordered to professionally and independently investigate every aspect of the case without yielding to pressures from any quarter.

The court adjourned the hearing till Jan 11.