ISLAMABAD: The capital police approached Interpol for assistance in the arrest of former adviser to the prime minister on interior and accountability, Mirza Shahzad Akbar, in a case registered against him at Secretariat police station under various criminal charges, police sources said on Friday.

Sources said the investigators of the case, registered under sections 420, 468, 471, 385, 396, 389, 500 and 506 of Pakistan Penal Code, made a written request to Interpol seeking help in Mr Akbar’s arrest. A letter was written to the Interpol representative in Pakistan through FIA requesting to issue a red notice for the ex-adviser, they added.

A red warrant notice is a request to law enforcement worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender, or similar legal action.

Sources said the representative would forward the request to Interpol headquarters in Lyon, France, and the red notice would be issued from there.

Charges of fraud, forgery and extortion registered at Secretariat police station

After the issuance of the red notice, he will be tracked down through travel documents, including his passport, the sources said, adding that the capital police will provide the details of the travel documents to Interpol.

The case at the Secretariat police station was registered in response to a complaint lodged by Omer Farooq Zahoor, a resident of Dubai and an entrepreneur, who also served as an ambassador at large for an African country. Mr Zahoor is the person who had revealed that he had bought a priceless watch of Toshakhana from a former prime minister of Pakistan.

Alongside the former adviser Mr Mirza and FIA officer Ali Mardan Shah, Khushbakht Mirza, Mariam Mirza, Maira Khurram, and Umaid Butt have been booked in the case.

According to the FIR, the FIA’s Corporate Crime Circle in Lahore had initiated an inquiry based on a report submitted by the applicant’s ex-wife, Khushbakht Mirza. The inquiry led to the registration of two FIRs dated Oct 5, 2020, and Oct 10, 2020.

One of the FIRs accused the applicant and others of defrauding investors in Switzerland while the other accused them of bank fraud in Norway. However, these allegations had already been investigated and closed both in Pakistan and in the respective countries involved, said the FIR.

“FIA officials registered the false case at the behest of Shahzad Akbar, the then special adviser to the prime minister on accountability, who allegedly prepared forged documents in his office in the presence and convince of all the accused mentioned above,” the FIR said, adding the adviser obtained approval from the cabinet, concealing the fact that the cases had already been closed in Switzerland and Norway.

“Following a thorough investigation, the joint investigation team (JIT) concluded that the allegations in the FIRs were false, frivolous and based on forged documents,” the FIR said, adding that consequently, the JIT submitted cancellation reports to court for both the FIRs.

The court agreed with both the cancellation reports, it said, however, the accused in collusion with Umaid Butt and Ali Mardan Shah (officials of FIA) allegedly resumed their activities of blackmailing and extorting money from the applicant and managed to have false criminal cases registered against him and members of his family.

They also threatened the complainant of registering more cases and extorted money, the FIR said, adding that on many occasions they threatened to kill him.

Published in Dawn, December 9th, 2023