KARACHI: Former DIG East Amir Farooqui has taken over the reins of the Director of the FIA Sindh Zone and has been put in place to improve the performance of the Agency in a province which has long suffered institutional decay.
Farooqui is known as an honest and observant officer tasked with improving the performance of the FIA. Previously as DIG South, he had registered an FIR against the brother of a provincial minister, after which he was transferred to the headquarters of the FIA, as head of cybercrime and immigration. Instead, he contributed to their performance. It is worth mentioning that he gave his first exclusive interview for ‘Daily Jang’, after being posted on Sindh.
Speaking about his future endeavors, the Director of the FIA said that his priority is to investigate money laundering cases under the Anti-Money Laundering Act-2010 and to register cases against them in addition to closing investigations in other investigations awaiting decision. Farooqui said he would also try to get the criminals convicted after a thorough investigation and added he would keep the cybercrime cell and counter-terrorism wing under scrutiny as director of the FIA. In the past, he said the FIA had been slandered because of several cyber crime cell officials who had compiled the report, and that further action would be taken soon.
Answering another question, the director of FIA Sindh promised to eradicate and reduce corruption from banks, federal institutions and companies will also be a priority. He said the slow investigation process discouraged the complainants and expressed his intention to speed up the resolution of cases and to prevent FIA officials from using delay tactics to increase public confidence in the organization.
He said the Karachi FIA circle was working on various high profile pending cases, including the case against Shaheen Air, TDAP, PIA and others and all would be brought to their logical conclusion. He told ‘Jang’ that from now on all investigations will have a deadline for conclusions. Director of FIA Sindh said posting and moving would be done on the basis of merit and in line with the FIA SOP without considering any advocacy or pressure.