[JennyStewarta]

A three-member FIA team is leaving for Saudi Arabia on Monday (today) to probe into alleged corruption and mismanagement in Haj affairs this year.

Headed by director for Interpol Pakistan, the team also has two additional directors.

“As the alleged scam involved the arrangements made in Saudi Arabia therefore it is imperative for the agency to send its investigators there to find facts,” a senior FIA official told Dawn on condition of anonymity.

The official said the Saudi government had assured complete cooperation in investigating the scam and promised that it would provide all the evidence gathered by the Saudi investigators looking into the same case.

The team will stay in Saudi Arabia till the completion of the investigation.

The team is being sent to Saudi Arabia on the same day when the FIA will submit its preliminary report on the scam to the Supreme Court.

“It is a preliminary report. So it does not mean that investigations into the matter have been completed,” the official said, without disclosing contents of the report.

On Thursday, the FIA had arrested the joint secretary of the ministry of religious affairs, Raja Aftab, for being allegedly involved in the scam.

However, sources in the ministry said that Mr Aftab had been made a scapegoat to protect key players in corruption of billions of rupees.

[link:34p4yrl4]http://www.dawn.com/2010/12/13/haj-scam-fia-team-leaves-for-saudi-arabia-today.html,DAWN[/link:34p4yrl4]