NICVD corruption case: Court seeks FIA’s explanation on parallel inquiry

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) has sought explanation from the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on the legality of a parallel inquiry in National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) corruption case, ARY News reported on Wednesday.

The Sindh High Court (SHC) conducted the hearing of a petition against the FIA’s corruption probe against National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) administration.

The investigation officer (IO) told the high court’s judge that the hospital’s administration was not providing  relevant records nor recording their statements despite the issuance of notices. He pleaded the court to order to the NICVD administration to cooperate with the officials.

Read: SHC judge recuses himself from plea against NICVD corruption probe

The petitioner’s lawyer argued that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) was already investigating into the matter. He questioned how a parallel inquiry can be opened by the federal investigation agency.

The SHC judge asked FIA to provide a satisfactory answer to

the court regarding the legality of holding a parallel probe in the matter. The judge maintained that the court will order NICVD administration to cooperate with the investigators after getting a satisfactory response.

Later, the court sought arguments from the FIA and the petitioner. The hearing was adjourned till March 31.

Read: NAB submits response in petition against NICVD corruption inquiry

In the plea, the petitioner had pleaded that NICVD is being administered by the provincial authorities, whereas, the probe initiated by FIA was illegal and it should be stopped.

On the other hand, the FIA lawyer Dr Tariq Shaikh had argued that NICVD is a federally administered hospital and a thorough investigation is necessary to curb the corruption.

Earlier in December last year, the administration of the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) had moved to the Sindh High Court (SHC) after the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) initiated an investigation into corruption allegations.