The three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry was hearing the case regarding corruption in the Pakistan Steel Mills.
While presenting the FIA report, deputy attorney general Abid Saqi told the court that a case has been registered against 14 companies and 14 people have been taken in for interrogation. The properties of the 14 suspects, he said, have also been confiscated and a committee has been set up to assess the impact of corruption on the institution.
“Pakistan Steel Mill is the backbone of the country’s economy and the looted money must be brought back to the national exchequer,” said Chaudhry.
AMERY Steel Mills counsel Khalid Anwar told the court that cases are being registered against low-level PSM employees by the FIA, ostensibly on the orders of the Supreme Court. “Just two days ago, cases were registered against 20 low-level PSM employees but the FIA has made no effort to go after the real culprits, it hasn’t bothered initiating a single case against [Abbas Steel owner] Riaz Lalji nor has any inquiry been instituted,” accused Anwar.
On Chaudhry’s prodding as to why no action had been initiated, Saqi responded: “In this particular matter, my hands are tied.”
“Who has tied your hands?” asked Chaudhry. But Saqi refused to name names and insisted his earlier statement was a “slip of tongue”. But Ramday wasn’t about to let it go at that. “It was the truth, not a ‘slip of tongue’,” he observed.
To this, Saqi said institutions are afraid of the SC. “This is strange,” remarked Ramday dryly. “They can pursue corrupt practices despite their fear of us; why don’t they do good things for fear of us?”
Later, Anwar told the court that bureaucratic incompetence and widespread corruption caused huge losses to PSM and that the present government was responsible for the bankruptcy of the institution. “All these corrupt practices took place in the year 2008-09,” he informed the bench.
“We want to ensure fair play and rule of law and we want an inquiry free of prejudice and harassment,” said the chief justice.
To present the federation’s point of view, senior advocate Hafeez Pirzada took to the rostrum and told the court that he also wanted a fair investigation. He also sought the court’s directions to ensure a transparent investigation.
“The government refused to appoint Tariq Khosa as investigation officer at the desire of the court,” mocked Ramday in response. “If the government is not interested in pursuing the case, the Supreme Court will also close this chapter.”
Later the legal director of the FIA Azam Khan submitted the agency’s report, which was rejected by the bench for being unsatisfactory. The court also took notice of the absence of the director general of the FIA.
Adjourning the hearing for four weeks with directions to both the DAG and DG FIA to submit a fresh report by then, the chief justice also directed the DG FIA to investigate the matter himself. The DG was also told to stop harassing people in the name of Supreme Court. Meanwhile, Saqi was asked to file an early hearing application in the Sindh High Court regarding the cancellation of bail of five accused in the PSM case.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 22nd, 2010.
COMMENTS (1)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ