Session court on Friday convicted Former minister for religious affairs Hamid Saeed Kazmi and former DG Haj operations Rao Shakeel Ahmad in Hajj corruption scam.
As per details, the Special Judge Central Malik Nazeer issued the verdict, sentencing PPP government minister Hamid Saeed Kazmi to 16 years and Rao Shakeel 40 years in prison.
Special prosecutor of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and other concerned officials were present in the court when the judgement was issued.
The Hajj scam had surfaced in 2010 after the then Minister for Science and Technology Azam Swati accused ex-religious affairs minister Hamid Saeed Kazmi of corruption following which the Supreme Court in 2010 took suo moto notice of the case.
Kazmi, Rao Shakeel and Aftab were accused of indulging in widespread corruption during the course of renting residential buildings for Pakistani pilgrims in Saudi Arabia and causing a loss of millions of rupees to the national exchequer.
A case was registered leading to Kazmi’s arrest on March 15, 2011 but he was granted bail by a Rawalpindi court in August 2012.
In its decision in 2013, the Supreme Court had ordered FIA to carry out thorough investigation of this case.
