LAHORE, Oct 22: The government has constituted a five-member committee to work out the modalities of the merger of the crime and economic crime wings of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) with the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

The federal cabinet on Sept 20 decided to merge the FIA crime and economic wings with the NAB. The government took the decision on account of poor performance of the FIA in dealing with crime cases.

The cabinet had also decided to transfer the FIA staffers of the two wings to the NAB and the remaining staff to the surplus pool of the Establishment Division for absorption in other government departments. However, the decision was not implemented.

“The committee has been constituted primarily because the FIA and the NAB officials failed to finalize the status of transferred employees after the merger. A list of employees from the FIA sub-offices had been finalised, but the head office did not approve it, a senior FIA official told Dawn on Tuesday.

The committee is headed by a member from the establishment division. Other members belong to the departments of law and finance, the NAB and the FIA.

Besides the status of FIA employees, the committee is to decide as to who will join NAB and who will go on deputation. The committee will also decide the establishment of an anti-terrorist wing either under the FIA or the NAB. It would also decide the fate of the cases pending with the FIA crime and economic crimes wings.

The government announced the establishment of an anti-terrorist cell in the FIA a couple of months ago but did not provide funds for the purpose.

The official said that after the merger of its two important wings, the FIA might be given the task of setting up an anti-terrorism network across the country.

The FIA came into existence in 1975 to deal with cases ranging from human-trafficking and drug-smuggling to bank frauds and tax evasions. Its functions have now been reduced mainly to immigration related crimes. However, its performance is not satisfactory even in the reduced sphere of activities, as hundreds of people, including women and children, slip to other countries every year using illegal documents.

Out of 177 FIA staff members, about 70 are already engaged with the NAB while as many are expected to become part of the NAB after the merger. Some 630 cases and 965 inquiries are pending with the crime wing and 590 cases and over 850 inquiries with the economic crime wing. About 2,300 cases and 2,485 inquiries are pending with the immigration wing.

The committee will also decide whether the NAB should deal with all the cases and inquiries pending with the two FIA wings or only with the high profile ones.

After clipping the FIA powers, the NAB will now be the pre-eminent central agency dealing with criminal cases.