SECP chairman remanded in FIA custody in record tampering case

ISLAMABAD: Security and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) chairman Zafar Hijazi was remanded on Saturday in the custody of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for fours days for interrogation with regard to his suspected involvement in altering financial record of the Sharif family’s companies, ARY News reported.

Judicial Magistrate Muhammad Shabbir granted physical remand of the SECP chairman for four days, turning down the request of FIA officials for keeping him in their custody for ten days to question him with regard to his involvement in the record tampering case.

Following his remand, the FIA authorities brought the ailing suspect back to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) where he will undergo certain medical tests.

A day before, he was arrested outside the court after it declined to extend his bail.

Earlier this week, the special judge had approved interim bail for Hijazi till July 21 and had directed him to furnish two surety bonds of Rs250,000.

Hijazi has been booked in a case following the Supreme Court’s order in the Panama Papers implementation case for allegedly tampering with financial records of the Sharif’s companies.

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A four-member FIA team, constituted by the apex court to look into the JIT’s allegations, had proved the record tampering claims.

It found chairman SECP Hijazi guilty of record tampering and recommended criminal proceedings against him and two of his subordinates – Ali Azeem and Maheen Fatima – under Section  466, 472, PPC read with 5(2) Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA) 1947.

SECP Director Maheen Fatima had accused the SECP chairman of exerting intense pressure on her to blame the Panamagate JIT of misbehaving with her during an interrogation session.

In her statement to the probing team, she asserted that the money laundering investigation against Chaudhry Sugar Mills was closed on the chairman’s directives.

The director has further accused the chairman of threatening her with dire consequences including transfer to Gilgit-Baltistan on defiance of his orders.

The Panamagate JIT had previously complained to the top court that SECP had allegedly tampered with the record, apparently to favour the Sharif family who owns Chaudhry Sugar Mills.