The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has written a letter to Prime Minister Imran Khan to increase Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) manpower and capacity. The decision was made during a recent meeting of the sub-committee of the PAC under the chairmanship of Riaz Fatyana.
The sub-committee discussed the inability of FIA headquarters to provide records of Rs. 21 million during the meeting.
Riaz Fatyana showed disappointment towards the agency, saying that FIA has made no progress in the five cases that were been sent to it. He asked the FIA Director General (DG) to reveal the names of the officers who were not ready to show good performance.
In response, FIA DG Dr Sanaullah Abbasi said that FIA had submitted the challan in the cases of Employees’ Old-Age Benefits Institution (EOBI), which had been pending for the last 12 years.
Abbasi revealed that he was getting two to three hundred cases per day and so were other senior officers and directors. The DG further said that FIA is facing many challenges, however, the resources provided to FIA were limited.
Commenting on the EOBI cases, Senator Talha Mahmood said that billions of rupees had been embezzled in EOBI. He added that the EOBI officers made personal gains by making investments. The senator further criticized FIA for registering cases only six to seven months ago, when they had been pending since 2014.
In response, the DG FIA said that the number of cases disposed of in these six or seven months is the highest in the history of FIA.
Riaz Fatyana suggested that FIA should seek help from the Attorney General’s Office regarding pending cases. He also suggested that the agency should send a summary to the Prime Minister’s Office and get approval for recruitment.
The PAC decided to write a letter to the prime minister requesting him to increase the capacity and the manpower of FIA so the institution could work more effectively.
Source: Pro Pakistani