‘Evidence’ arrives: Malik Riaz to appear before court today

Asked if he will be defending allegations, attributed to him, against the chief justice’s son Dr Arsalan Iftikhar, Malik Riaz said: “Everything will be (clear) in court tomorrow.” PHOTO: AGENCIES

“I am in Pakistan now and will be appearing before the court in person,” former Bahria Town chairman Malik Riaz told The Express Tribune via telephone after arriving in Karachi on Monday.

Malik’s private aircraft landed at Karachi airport Monday evening, and the real-estate tycoon stayed there for some time before leaving for Islamabad. There is no confirmation if Malik met anyone during his brief stay in Karachi.

Asked if he will be defending allegations, attributed to him, against the chief justice’s son Dr Arsalan Iftikhar, Malik said: “Everything will be (clear) in court tomorrow.”

A close associate, however, added that Malik would “certainly defend” his case and bring substantial evidence against Arsalan.

Last chance

Earlier on Monday, a two-judge bench of the apex court offered Malik the last chance to appear before the court on Tuesday or submit his concise statement.

Justice Jawwad S Khawaja told Malik’s counsel, Zahid Bokhari, that in case of failure to submit a concise statement, the court will proceed on the basis of available material.

Justice Khilji Arif Hussain also admonished Bokhari and instructed him to comply with court orders.

Bokhari has already proposed that an independent commission be formed to investigate the matter. He had suggested that the matter could be referred to a commission, like the one formed for Memogate scandal, for thorough investigations.

At this stage, however, he did not press for the formation of a commission, and said that his client can request for this in the future.

Later, he told reporters that his client would be arriving with “explosive evidence” against Dr Arsalan.

Mysterious arrival, departure

Malik’s arrival in Karachi, instead of Islamabad, is as shrouded in mystery as his departure from the country.

His personal staff officer had claimed that Malik left the country for ‘treatment’ two days before the court took suo motu notice of the case.

According to the Civil Aviation Authority’s (CAA) record, however, a Beechcraft B-114 aircraft marked ‘Bahria Town 001’ took off from Lahore and landed in Karachi at 1pm on June 6.

A Federal Investigation Agency official, who approached the aircraft to check immigration stamps of the people onboard, was informed that there were two persons on the private aircraft and they did not need the exit stamp.

Meanwhile, before its landing, three high-profile officials were already present at the airport’s apron area but sources were not able to confirm if they held a meeting with the persons onboard the private aircraft or were simply there to facilitate their departure without documentation.

CAA officials, on condition of anonymity, said the plane had Malik Riaz on board and left for Dubai at 1:50pm.

The same plane returned to Karachi on June 8, but Malik was not onboard the aircraft, which left again for Dubai on Tuesday to bring him back.

Published In The Express Tribune, June 12^th, 2012.