ISLAMABAD, Jan 26: As bizarre as it sounds, the Federal Investigation Agency on Tuesday raided an air-conditioner manufacturing factory in Sector I-9 for allegedly using counterfeit software.

Following a complaint from world software giant, Microsoft, the orders for the raid came from the top when Director FIA, Shahid Nadeem Baloch and Director Islamabad zone Tariq Hanif Johya instructed Deputy Director Karam Mazhar Hussain Shah to carry out the raid on the Sabro factory renowned for its air-conditioning systems. It was not clear why the Microsoft and FIA singled out Sabro’s IT section when most of the government departments, including FIA besides numerous corporate setups were using pirated software and especially when it was easily available in the market for less than Rs50. “The matter is in court which is why Microsoft cannot comment,” said Microsoft.

Leading the raiding team was Deputy Director Corporate Crime Circle FIA, Mazhar Uddin Shah who said, “We raided the IT section of the factory and confiscated computers and software present there.”

Cases against the Chairman, Sabro, Mohammed Siddiq Chaudhari and the Directors of the company, Mohammed Khalid and Mohammed Shahid along with several others had been registered and was following up with their arrests, the Deputy Director said.

According to Mazhar Shah, FIA had received a complaint and a raid was immediately ordered by FIA higher officials.

“Microsoft had been trying to convince Sabro to use licenced software. Talks failed after year-long negotiations,” he said.

Prior to the raid, the FIA team had requested the owners of the factory to present them with the Microsoft software licences, he said adding, “Instead of producing the licences, the owners fled the scene. The FIA team confiscated about 30 computer systems from the IT section of the factory. The situation almost got out of hand when the staff that outnumbered us surrounded our team. Police was called in as backup to defuse the situation.”

FIA had registered a case and established a team for the arrests of the culprits still at large.

“FIA has prepared a list of all those companies which are using counterfeit and unlicensed Microsoft software. Not only are these companies affecting the revenues of software manufacturers but are depriving the government of millions of rupees in tax revenues as well,” he said.

The raid was carried out under the Copy Right Act of 1962. FIA has initiated a plan to carry out raids and investigations against those organisations involved in the use of unlicensed software worth millions of rupees in their daily business processes.