ISLAMABAD, Aug 17: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) informed the Supreme Court on Friday that Interpol’s assistance had been sought to bring back to the country Mohsin Habib Warriach, one of the accused in the multi-billion-rupee National Insurance Company Limited (NICL) scam, who had absconded.

FIA’s Director Legal Mohammad Azam said that the agency’s director general had ordered completion of investigation against Mohsin Warriach in a week and cancellation of his passport.

A three-judge Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry had taken up the NICL case which attracted a lot of attention when big names like Chaudhry Moonis Elahi and Commerce Minister Makhdoom Amin Fahim also surfaced.

On July 19, the court dropped proceedings against Moonis, son of Deputy Prime Minister Pervaiz Elahi, after the FIA said it was difficult to prove that the money in his accounts was dirty.

Former minister Habibullah Warriach, Mohsin Habib Warriach and Akram Warriach collectively owed Rs420 million to the NICL.

Earlier, Akram Warriach, director of Farms (Pvt) Limited, signed a five-year agreement to return the money and presented 10 post-dated cheques to the FIA.

But the first cheque for Rs42 million as a guarantee for depositing the liable amount of Rs420 million bounced on April 4 this year because there were no funds in the account.

Subsequently, a case was registered against Mohsin Warriach and Akram Warriach in June this year.

On Friday, the court ordered the FIA director general to complete the inquiry and submit a report.

Commerce Secretary Munir Qureshi informed the court that the appointment of former NICL head Ayaz Niazi had been found to be legal.

He said that a thorough inquiry conducted by the joint secretary of commerce had found that the appointment was in line with the law.

But the court termed the report unsatisfactory and adjourned the proceedings for two weeks at the request of the commerce secretary to reinvestigate the appointment of Niazi in view of the earlier directions issued by the court.