700 Saudi riyals to each affected pilgrim: Supreme Court tells ministry to disburse money

The Supreme Court Thursday directed religious affairs ministry to return 700 Saudi riyals to each affected Haj pilgrim within a week or its accounts will be frozen, expressing dissatisfaction over the probe conducted by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) into the scam.
The seven-member bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry with Justice Javed Iqbal, Justice Tassadaq Hussain Jilani, Justice Raja Fayyaz Ahmed, Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, Justice Ghulam Rabbani and Justice Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday, was hearing a suo motu case of rampant corruption during Haj arrangements in 2010.
The bench issued directive to secretary religious affairs ministry to return 700 Saudi riyals to each affected pilgrim of five Makatib - five groups of pilgrims, which contains about 26,000 victims. The court also made it binding on the ministry not to pay this amount from Haj Welfare Fund.
Expressing annoyance over the investigation into the scandal led by director-general FIA Wasim Ahmed, the bench asked him to inform the government about his inability to perform his duty in a transparent manner or the court will give its verdict. The court also reprimanded the FIA interrogator for not contacting two witnesses in Saudi Arabia, who had approached Azam Swati, former federal minister.
Meanwhile, Azam Swati submitted a written statement through his counsel Afnan Kundi. The Chief Justice expressed annoyance as to why the name of one of the main accused was removed from the Exit Control List (ECL). The bench directed the DG FIA to record the statement of Interior Minister Rehman Malik as the name was removed on the directive of the minister.
The court also ordered the FIA to inform the court whether Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani's son Abdul Qadir Gilani had gone to Saudi Arabia or not.
The bench also castigated the DG FIA on a vague statement of Shahid - an official of the religious affairs ministry. To a question, Wasim told the bench that Zain Muhammad Sukaira, who was accused of massive corruption by Bilal Yaseen and Imran Shah - the two parliamentarians, had escaped from the country.
The CJ while addressing the DG FIA said that his faulty investigation mechanism was heading towards nowhere. The people have sacrificed for a transparent system and we would go to every extent to save it, he warned. The hearing was adjourned till January 11.