Inquiry commission completes interviews of sugar mills' executives
- By Zulqarnain Haider -
- May 10, 2020
ISLAMABAD: The sugar inquiry commission has made progress in the probe into alleged misappropriation by completing interviews of the chief executive officers (CEOs) of different sugar mills, ARY News reported on Sunday.
The executives’ interviews have been conducted by the inquiry commission at the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) headquarters.
Sources said that CEOs have not appeared before the commission, however, directors of the sugar mill owners gave the interviews to the investigators.
It emerged that the sugar inquiry commission had summoned eight groups for the interviews from the sugar mills including Alliance Group, Hunza Group, Hamza Group.
Read: PM Imran vows legal action against profiteers behind sugar, flour ‘crisis’
Sources added that the commission questioned the persons in light of the forensic audit.
Earlier, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had summoned Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Khurram Dastagir on May 9 to record their statement in connection with its investigation into the sugar crisis.
Ex-PM Abbasi had written to Wajid Zia, the head of the inquiry commission, two days back, stating that he has important documents and evidence that he wants to provide to the commission to help it move forward in its probe.
He expressed his desire to appear before it and hand over those documents and proofs so that concrete action could be taken against the sugar mafia. In response to his letter, the FIA asked Abbasi and Dastagir to appear at the agency’s headquarters on May 9.
Read: ‘Heads will roll after final report on wheat, sugar crises’
Later on May 9, the PML-N politicians and officials of All Pakistan Sugar Mills Association had appeared before the investigators where they recorded their statements.
It is pertinent to mention here that the federal cabinet had given an additional three weeks to Sugar Forensic Commission (SFC) to compile its detailed forensic report on the sugar and wheat scandal.
On the directives of Prime Minister Imran Khan, the federal government made public reports of a high-level inquiry into the sugar and wheat crises on April 4 that had hit the people hard across the country in January.
Read: Forensic commission probing wheat, sugar report asks for more evaluation time
Under the stewardship of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) director general Wajid Zia, two teams carried out a probe into the crises and furnished their reports to the prime minister upon completion for perusal.
Prime Minister Khan went through the report before these were made public.
The report revealed PTI stalwart Jahangir Khan Tareen, a brother of Food Minister Khusro Bakhtiyar, and PML-Q leader Moonis Elahi are among the beneficiaries of the sugar crisis which took a serious toll on the people, especially the poor.