PSQCA team raids Bashir Memon’s Cooking Oil Mill

ISLAMABAD: A team of Pakistan Standard Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) has raided a cooking oil mill owned by ex-director general Federal Investigation Agency Bashir Memon in Sanghar, Sindh. The raiding team of PSQCA, a subsidiary institution of the Ministry of Science and Technology, tried to seal the industry and harassed employees, claimed the Memon family on Thursday.

"A team of PSQCA raided the Al-Mujtaba Ghee Mills Pvt. Ltd. today [Thursday]. They sought the credentials of the mill and harassed the employees," ex-DG FIA Bashir Memon told Geo News. The development came two days after the former DG FIA made shocking allegations about the government plan to force him for framing a case against the Supreme Court's judge Justice Qazi Faez Isa as well as charge Sharifs in a terrorism case linked to late accountability court's judge Arshad Malik's video case.

"The raiding team wanted the whole record of the mill. Some other government officials also tried to confiscate my family's land record from Shahdadkot. The family is scared after these happenings," Memon told this correspondent. This correspondent approached the Quality Control Authority to know the authenticity of claims and why the cooking oil mill was raided by its team and what the charges were. Their response was awaited till the filing of this story.

Member Operations FBR Dr. Muhammad Ashfaq Ahmed strongly rebutted the claim of Bashir Memon who alleged that he (Dr Ashfaq) was already in Law Minister Farogh Nasim’s office when he, Shahzad Akbar and Azam Khan walked into it and discussed Justice Qazi Faez Isa’s case.

"This is denied outright being incorrect and malicious. I have never ever attended any meeting in which all these three individuals were present either in the Law Minister’s office or elsewhere," Dr Ashfaq told the Geo News. On claim that the FBR had received the OECD data, which purportedly he was offering to use for the alleged investigation, he said, "This is factually incorrect and outlandish. Under the OECD framework, only offshore bank account information is exchanged whereas the instant case was based on offshore properties; hence, any word on undertaking any investigation is outright illogical and baseless."

Narrating the facts, Member Operation FBR said he met Bashir Memon only twice in his life. First, in December 2018, during the hearing of Suo Moto Case No. 01 of 2018 on “offshore properties” in the Supreme Court of Pakistan. "We shook hands and exchanged names fleetingly. Secondly, just a few days later after the first meeting, Memon visited the FBR and met the-then Member (IR Operations). I was called to the meeting by the Member. Memon insisted that the OECD data be shared with him so that he could make money laundering cases which, according to him, would help the FBR in tax collection. The data sharing was refused citing confidentiality provisions in domestic legislation, international protocols and the amnesty law."

On this, Memon alternatively suggested off-the-record data-sharing of some important cases as no law debarred him from taking action under the anti-money laundering law, Dr Ashfaq further said. Sharing of data even under this mode was refused, he further revealed. "The meeting came to a close after exchange of firm and assertive words from both sides with Memon indicating that he would take the matter to the finance minister," he added.

Former DG FIA Bashir Memon told Geo News, "I stand by my claims. I urge the government to form a commission to know the real facts about my claims."