LAHORE: As Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif pledges to “protect the interests of farmers at all costs”, the federal government appears reluctant to thoroughly investigate the mega scam and take action against those at the helm at the time of the import.

At present, a fact-finding committee formed earlier this week to identify irregularities in the import is led by Cabinet Secretary Kamran Ali Afzal. The committee is tasked with probing the matter and its report is likely to be furnished before the cabinet next week.

A PML-N source said that former prime minister and PML-N supreme leader Nawaz Sharif wanted the Shehbaz-led coalition government to take “indiscriminate” action against those involved in the alleged scam without any regard for their “strong political clout”.

During a meeting at the PML-N’s Model Town office, it was suggested that the NAB or the FIA be engaged to in­v­estigate the alleged scam, but the She­hbaz government on Saturday said that no such decision was on the cards.

“The government has no such int­ention (to engage the NAB/FIA to probe wheat import scam),” Infor­mation Minister Attaullah Tarar told said. An insider source claimed that since the scam was largely related to former caretaker premier Anwaarul Haq Kakar’s government, the Shehbaz adm­inistration “is treading very carefully”.

In response to a query as to why the government was reluctant to engage NAB since the alleged scam exceeded Rs500 million as per new laws and why the caretaker premier was not being summoned, the information minister chose to stay silent.