The Supreme Court of Pakistan (SC) announced the verdict in a suo moto case regarding alleged corruption of Rs 26 billion in the Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) here in Islamabad on Wednesday.
The court ordered the National Accountability Bureau to investigate in corruption in steel mills and also annulled bails of all persons involved in corruption and ordered their arrest.
A three-member bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry in its judgment criticized the FIA performance and ordered the investigation agency to hand over all record of the investigation to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), which have to complete its inquiry in three months and will report every fortnight about progress in the probe.
The court also ordered the NAB chief to carry out investigations under his supervision.
It should be mentioned that on March 15, a three-member bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, reserved judgment in this regard.
During last hearing, the SC had ordered Industries Secretary Gul Muhammad Rind to come up with an explanation as to why his ministry failed in taking timely action on a forensic audit report (2008-09) that identified cumulative losses of Rs 26.5 billion suffered by the PSM in one year. Rind told the bench that after receiving the FIA’s report they would decide about sending it to the NAB.
The CJP said that the audit report had proved massive corruption in the PSM, adding that the case would be sent to NAB, which would take action against those responsible and recover the plundered money.
He said, “It was your responsibility to send the cases to NAB. To establish good governance is the duty of the government.”