In a potential embarrassment to the coalition government, Food and Civil Supplies Minister B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan was summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for questioning over the IMA scam on Friday.
A team of ED officials visited the minister’s residence and served a summons, directing him to appear before them on July 5. Zameer was not present to receive the summons, and officials had to hand it over to his family. Although the names of several politicians and government officials have been linked to the scam, Zameer is the first to be served a summons by the ED.
Reacting to the summons, Zameer said the ED had sought clarification about a financial transaction that he had with IMA founder Mohammed Mansoor Khan. He said he had sold a property located at Serpentine Street, Richmond Circle, to Mansoor in 2017 and executed the sale deed in 2018. He added that he had paid all the taxes on the transaction.
“What’s wrong in the notice (regarding the transaction)? I just have to clarify to the officials,” Zameer said. “I have all the documents and will submit them to the ED... I will fully cooperate in the investigation and will be happy if aggrieved investors get their money back.”
The minister asserted that had he known about IMA’s “irregularities”, he wouldn’t have mentioned the property sale in his election affidavit.
Maintaining that his dealings with Mansoor were limited to the property sale, Zameer welcomed a CBI probe into the issue. Answering questions, he said: “It doesn’t matter who will investigate the case. The poor who lost the money must get justice.”
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