Since establishment is busy in conspiring (by forcing them to appoint corrupt individuals on important posts) against the current regime, is this also a part of that?
Another FIA posting that could annoy SC - thenews.com.pk
Another FIA posting that could annoy SC - thenews.com.pk
**ISLAMABAD: In yet another controversial move to annoy the Supreme Court, one of the most controversial officers, who is not only an NRO beneficiary but has also been sacked thrice from his service, has been posted as Acting Director, FIA, Islamabad, and perhaps would be dealing with major corruption scandals, including the Haj scam, The News has learnt.
Sajjad Haider, an NRO beneficiary already terminated thrice and convicted by the Lahore High Court, was promoted recently to BPS-19, has now been posted as In-charge of FIA in Islamabad. It may become another case like that of Ahmed Riaz Sheikh’s who was promoted despite being convicted and the SC took suo moto notice of it and sent him to jail, the sources added.**
The outgoing DG FIA, Fayyaz Leghari, before departing, issued the notification of Sajjad Haider, the sources said. Leghari has been appointed as the IG Sindh. Now Sajjad will be dealing with the Haj scam and other important land scams.
Sajjad is the second convicted FIA officer after Ahmad Riaz Sheikh, former additional DG FIA (Economic Crime), who has been promoted in three-year time and has been posted against the key post. Sheikh, however, was sent to jail after the Supreme Court took a suo moto notice after the story of his promotion was published in The News.
Informed officials say his promotion was deferred by the Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC) more than five times, apprehending any decision in this respect could land them in trouble but it had been finally done earlier this year.
Sajjad was also convicted by the Lahore High Court, together with an influential government figure. Both were handed three-year sentences which were later upheld when they went in appeal against the decision. Their sentence was pardoned by President Asif Zardari but not conviction since doing away with it was beyond his authority.
Sajjad was also terminated thrice, only to be reinstated again, yet he evades the attention of concerned quarters due to his closeness with an influential government figure, who was a co-accused with him in corruption cases. Incidentally, Sajjad Haider, convicted on corruption charges, was serving as Additional Director (Anti-Corruption Wing) before his posting as Acting Director, FIA, Islamabad. The cases he ‘looked after’ also include the ones instituted against him and an influential government figure. All the high-profile corruption cases were being referred to the section headed by Sajjad Haider, involving mega land scams implicating the big guns considered movers and shakers in power corridors.
Sajjad was also recently caught holding two passports illegally, official and private, and allegedly with the connivance of the passport authorities, no action has been taken against him so far.
Sajjad, who has been through thick and thin with a well-placed figure since long, was first dismissed in October 2001 by (then) Secretary Interior Tasneem Noorani as being a co-accused in a corruption case alleging misappropriation of funds in unauthorised release of imported yellow cabs. As the PPP formed the government, (then) Secretary Interior Kamal Shah had Sajjad reinstated illegally from a backdate, also granting his back-dated promotion.
Qamar Zaman Chaudhry, Kamal Shah’s successor, dismissed Sajjad Haider again, following the Supreme Court’s order on the NRO that was declared null and void with cases of this black law’s beneficiaries stood reopened.
Sajjad then went to appeal to the ex-prime minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, bypassing all the rules as it had to be done through the secretary interior.
Sajjad was consequently dismissed again as the ex-prime minister’s (then) Principal Secretary, Nargis Sethi, had the reinstatement order reversed. Sajjad then went to the Federal Services Tribunal (FST), praying that his reinstatement order was reversed by the principal secretary not the PM himself.
A bench constituted by Farrukh Qayyum (appointed as FST member by present government after his retirement as a federal secretary) and another member, accepted his appeal, asking ex-prime minister Gilani to decide Sajjad’s case afresh, his lawyer had told The News.
Soon after the FST order that was precisely about the letter of the principal secretary, Sajjad has been reinstated without considering his conviction status. He was notified the next day as deputy director anti-corruption; notwithstanding the fact he was dismissed in 2001 as an assistant director.