ISLAMABAD: Former Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) chief Bashir Memon stated on Monday that by making him an example, the government wants to send a message to all government officials that “if they disobeyed, they would be ridiculed, jailed, and their pensions would be halted.”
Memon had appeared before an investigation team on Saturday for allegedly facilitating a suspect wanted for financial crimes overseas and for failing to investigate the person’s money laundering allegations.
The combined investigation team was headed by FIA Punjab Director DIG Muhammad Rizwan via video link.
Memon was quizzed about allegedly facilitating Omar Farooq Zahoor in two cases of financial crimes in Zurich and Oslo, and human trafficking during his tenure as the FIA director-general.
Speaking about the FIA inquiry on program “Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath,” Memon stated that the government wants to send a message to all government officials that if they do not follow orders, they will have to bear the consequences.
On a question, whether he left the inquiry without answering the FIA, Memon said, “I didn’t leave the interrogation. I have recorded the conversation; if the FIA wants, I’ll share it on social media.”
He said, “I have secured pre-arrest bail because I know what is going on and who is behind it.”
According to Memon, the FIA chief wanted to arrest him.
“He will face what he does to me. I ask my former institution not to violate the law. The arrest warrant for the person I have been accused of facilitating was issued in 2015, when I was not the FIA DG. I have asked the FIA to send me his file.
“I received 70,000 files in my three-year tenure and I don’t remember all of them. He asked me to send his case to Interpol and I emailed it to take necessary action on it. Interpol has not written anywhere that it had decided the case because of me,” he recounted.
He added that the official from the FIA who summoned him was “inept and dishonest” and is tarnishing Pakistan’s image in front of Interpol.
“Do they want the Financial Action Task Force to intervene in this case? What were the cops doing at the airports when the man came and left Pakistan 32 times? At the time, the guy who summoned me was the immigration director. Wajid Zia was in charge of immigration. Ask them if I assisted the accused in any way,” he argued.
FIA Lahore told that it had been investigating various international financial crimes of a serious nature leading to transnational money laundering by suspect Omar Zahoor since 2009-10, for which he had been wanted by various countries, including Norway, Switzerland, and Turkey, but had evaded apprehension despite multiple requests from Interpol.
