Contempt of court: Supreme Court indicts FIA chief

Malik Iqbal destroyed every case: CJP.

ISLAMABAD:

The Supreme Court on Friday indicted the chief of the Federal Investigating Agency (FIA) Malik Muhammad Iqbal for contempt of court on account of interference in investigations into the National Insurance Company Limited (NICL) scam.

Director General (DG) FIA is also accused of initiating the transfer of the lead investigation officer of the scam by misrepresenting facts in a letter to the Establishment Division (ED) in violation of the court’s directive.

Chief Justice (CJP) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, presiding over a three-member bench, read out the charges against him prepared by Attorney General Anwarul Haq. Directed to file a written reply, Iqbal wrote that he did not want to defend the charges against him because he would not like to undermine the respect due to the court. The CJP observed that the DG had pleaded guilty and he would have to be indicted.

The court has asked Secretary Interior, Secretary ED and the FIA to present the record related to Zafar Qureshi’s transfer on the next date of hearing.

The chief justice remarked that Iqbal destroyed every case entrusted to him. Counsel for federation, Abdul Hafeez Pirzada, asked for some time to prepare the DG’s defence but the chief justice declined his request. The CJP said nobody would be allowed to make a mockery of the court. DG FIA should be in jail for he has ruined the entire case, he said. From the very first, he has been pursuing a policy of confrontation with the court, he added.

Pirzada had contended that it was not the court’s duty but the Attorney General’s job to frame charges. Everything will be alright once the DG is sent behind bars, remarked the CJP. Iqbal pleaded that he was willing to quit his job, but the court rejected his appeal. He will be retiring on July 14.

Makhdum Ali Khan, the DG’s counsel did not appear before the court to defend his client. The chief justice said Khan made up an excuse about his father’s illness as a delaying tactic. In his absence, Pirzada tried hard to defend Iqbal but his efforts were in vain. Since some influential people are involved in the NICL case, there is a lot of pressure to suppress the evidence against them.

The SC ordered the AGP to present the record of the investigation spearheaded by Zafar Qureshi and other officers. The court also directed FIA to present the record of the NICL case. The hearing was adjourned till June 8.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 4^th, 2011.