FIA prepares draft of charges
for FIR against Rehan Paper Mart
By our correspondent
KARACHI: The Commercial Banking Circle (CBC) of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has prepared draft of charges expected to be converted into an FIR against Rehan Paper Mart and Jang Group of Publications, sources told The News on Saturday.
The government-controlled news agency, Associated Press of Pakistan (APP), however, ran a story with Karachi dateline, claiming that a case had been registered against Malik Irfan Ahmed, Director of Rehan Paper Mart Karachi, Ikhlas Ahmed and clearing agent Friends Alliance.
But contrary to the APP claim, sources claimed that draft had not yet been converted into FIR and an FIA team would be leaving for Islamabad on Sunday to discuss the matter with the director Commercial Banking Circle and Economic Crime Wing.
The sources said that the draft of the proposed FIR contained two charges under two sections of the Customs Act 1969. Under Section 32 of the Customs Act, the draft charged Rehan Paper Mart with mis-declaring the quality of newsprint and under Section 156(1) 10-A, it had been charged with misusing the import quota of the newsprint in connivance with the Jang Group.
The sources said that the FIR might be registered with the CBC Karachi, Economic Crime Wing Karachi (ECW) or Special Investigation Unit Islamabad (SIU). If registered with the CBC Karachi, the case would be marked as FIR No 77/98 and if registered with the ECW or the SIU it would be bearing a different number.
The sources said that as no private complaint had been lodged with the FIA, the state would have to become complainant in the case through an investigation officer. The sources said that the agency was unaware of the whereabouts of both Irfan and Ikhlas, since the release of Irfan a few days back.
Meanwhile, a number of newspapers which store their newsprint with Rehan Paper Mart faced problems in bringing out their issues for Sunday as the shop and its godown both remained closed on Saturday. Meanwhile, the Ehtesab Cell in collusion with FIA was trying find out if the newsprint recovered from the godowns of Irfan also belonged to other newspaper groups, particularly those based in Karachi.