Former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) Zafar Hijazi was on Saturday sent on a 14-day judicial remand by a court for allegedly altering official records presented for a probe in the Panama Papers case.
Mr. Hijazi was arrested by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) earlier this month after a report released by the Joint Investigation Team (JIT), probing Nawaz Sharif and his family’s wealth, alleged that the former SECP chairman had altered records related to Chaudhry Sugar Mills.
Mr. Hijazi was presented before the Senior Civil Judge Muhammad Shabbir after his three-day physical remand with the FIA ended.
The FIA requested the court for a further three-day physical remand which was contested by Mr. Hijazi’s counsel, Azid Nafees, who argued that his counsel had already been in FIA custody for seven days.
Rejecting the FIA’s request, the court sent Mr. Hijazi to Adiala Jail on a 14-day judicial remand.
A case was registered against Mr. Hijazi on the orders of the Supreme Court after the three-member Panama Papers case implementation Bench acted on the JIT report.
The court also ordered the FIA to present the charge sheet against Mr. Hijazi after two-week.
The SECP ex-chief’s trouble started when it emerged during investigation of Panama case against Sharif that Mr. Hijazi was responsible for altering the details of record presented for the probe.
The Supreme Court on July 28 disqualified 67-year-old Sharif for dishonesty and ruled that corruption cases be filed against him and his children over the Panama Papers scandal, forcing the embattled leader out of office.