ISLAMABAD - The Federal Invest i g a t i o n A g e n c y (FIA) has sought approval of the Ministry of Interior to initiate legal proceedings against former finance minister Senator Shaukat Tarin in connection with the probe into his leaked audio calls, which were allegedly aimed at derailing federal government’s deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The premier investigation agency has also sought permission from the interior ministry for the arrest of Tarin, the official sources told The Nation. FIA has completed its investigation against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader into the leaked audio calls case and the lawmaker has been held guilty, the sources added. FIA in its findings has held that the telephonic conversation of Tarin with former finance ministers of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa including Mohsin Leghari and Taimur Khan Jhagra was meant to derail Pakistan’s deal with the IMF for the disbursement of loan tranche. The inquiry said that he wanted to harm the security and national interests of the country.
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Last year, the federal government had directed the FIA to hold an investigation into the matter after two separate audio calls of Tarin with Leghari and Jhagra had gone viral on social media. In both the calls, Tarin could be purportedly heard directing both finance ministers to backtrack from their commitments made with the federal government ahead of the IMF executive board’s meeting to approve the disbursement of $1.18 billion tranche to Pakistan under a bailout package. He asked them to inform the federal government that the provinces could not post a budget surplus, an IMF demand, due to the devastating floods that have wreaked havoc in the country.