ISLAMABAD, Jan 11: The Supreme Court asked the government on Tuesday to consider disassociating Federal Investigations Agency’s Director General Waseem Ahmed from an inquiry into mismanagement and alleged corruption in Haj arrangements.

A seven-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry asked Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq to consult the government on keeping the DG out of the inquiry because he was exonerating people involved in the scandal.

The court had taken suo motu notice of a number of reports of unprecedented irregularities in the Haj affairs.

The attorney general was asked to submit a report to the registrar in three days.

In a statement submitted through the FIA, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said that he had ordered the removal from the Exit Control List (ECL) the name of the detained former Haj director general Rao Shakeel Ahmed in accordance with the rules and the establishment division’s directives.

He admitted to have written a letter to the secretary, ministry of interior, (SMI) which had been misunderstood as SMS (short message service) by those who had levelled allegations against him.

Zain Mohammad Sukhaira, a friend of Abdul Qadir Gilani, a son of the prime minister, submitted a recorded statement claiming that he had nothing to do with the scam and he was being maligned because he was close to the premier’s family.

While reading the minister’s statement, the chief justice expressed surprise that Mr Malik was not aware of Rao Shakeel’s involvement in corruption references.

Justice Javed Iqbal said the court had to ascertain whether the prescribed procedure had been adopted for removing the name from the ECL.

Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday said he didn’t know what the court should do when investigators became defenders and protectors of culprits.

He said he was not talking about politicians because now even government employees were buying hotels abroad.

The FIA DG informed the bench that he had written a letter on Jan 7 requesting the government to detach him from the investigation.  He said the establishment secretary had said in reply to a letter that the appointment of Rao Shakeel had been made in accordance with the law.

The chief justice observed that the court was not at the mercy of the FIA DG who had already been asked to admit to the government that he was unable to investigate the matter independently. Otherwise, he said, the court would issue an appropriate order.

Religious Affairs Secretary Shaukat Hayat Durrani said six banks would pay within two weeks 700 riyals to each of 26,660 pilgrims who had suffered because of lack of amenities in Mina during the Haj. About 18,000 branches of the banks will contact the pilgrims.

Mr Durrani said 13,000 pilgrims had received 250 riyals each provided by the Saudi government.

Justice Ramday asked the secretary to find out why the pilgrims were made to pay 700 riyals in 2010 for Mina accommodation while the charge was only 90 riyals the previous year.

Former minister Azam Swati’s counsel Afnan Kundi said he had submitted information about bank accounts of some people involved in the case in another concise statement filed on Tuesday. He alleged that the State Bank was not cooperating in the matter.

He said FIA Investigations Director Hussain Asghar had not yet gone to Saudi Arabia allegedly because of interference by vested interests.

Advocate Sardar Latif Khosa, representing former religious affairs minister Hamid Saeed Kazmi, said the visa of Mr Asghar was ready and he would leave for Saudi Arabia soon.

“You are sending the officer after six months when everything has been spoiled,” Justice Ramday said.

Advocate Kundi said Mr Swati had also submitted records showing telephone conversation between Mr Kazmi and Ahmed Faiz, allegedly the main character in the scam. He said several pilgrims had provided details of trips of Mr Sukhaira to Jeddah over the past seven months.

Mr Swati requested the court to order the establishment secretary to explain why the name of Rao Shakeel had been proposed for appointment as the Haj DG when two corruption references against him were pending with the National Accountability Bureau. FIA Director Hussain Asghar said the record of eight banks had been checked and no account of Rao Shakeel or Mr Kazmi had been found.

The SBP was pursuing an investigation into the matter, he said. The court ordered the attorney general to ensure that Mr Asghar left for Saudi Arabia to conduct the inquiry and also consider vesting the inquiry to a person who was not on a contract post.

The hearing was adjourned till Jan 20.