‘Babar Awan took Rs40m in the name of judges’

LAHORE: Fariha Afzal, wife of Sheikh Afzal, the main culprit in the Haris Steel Mill case, accused  Federal Law Minister Babar Awan of taking Rs40 million in the name of judges.

While addressing a press conference in Lahore on Wednesday, Fariha said that Aitzaz Ahsan charged Rs15 million as his fee for the case and clarified that he would not appear in the court if Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry would hear the case. She said she had not blamed Ahsan.

“People are trying to create problems between us and Ahsan. I have no problems with him. He had already told us that he will not appear in front of the Chief Justice,” she said.

Talking to the media outside the SC on Wednesday, Ahsan said that “I had made it clear that I will not appear before the Chief Justice of Pakistan. I have taken the fee in the Sheikh Afzal case as a lawyer but did not appear in court.”

Fariha claimed that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) officials were asking for Rs250 million as a bribe for her husband Sheikh Afzal’s bail.

Faria said that NAB officials have threatened to implicate her family in false cases if their demands for the bribes are not met.

She expressed her full confidence in Tariq Khosa and went on to say that so far, she and her family have deposited over Rs6 billion in cash and have surrendered all their assets.

Fariha said that her husband is suffering from various illnesses including Hepatitis. He has lost 20 kilograms in weight since his arrest. She said that he is being kept in a dark room in solitary confinement.

“He is being treated like a terrorist,” she claimed and demanded that her husband be given proper medical attention and his jail cell be upgraded.

Published in the Express Tribune, June 10^th, 2010.