Supreme Court rejects plea against Suddle commission
Counsel for Malik Riaz says rejection of application for investigative team change shows bias.
ISLAMABAD:
The Supreme Court has rejected the plea to prevent the one-man commission of Dr Shoaib Suddle from probing the alleged business deals of Malik Riaz Hussain and Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry’s son Dr Arsalan Iftikhar.
Zahid Bukhari, counsel for Malik Riaz, had challenged the commission in the Supreme Court over which a two-member bench of Justices Jawwad S Khawaja and Khiliji Arif Hussain conducted a hearing on Tuesday.
Bukhari urged the bench to pass a stay order against Dr Suddle till further orders of the court, saying a commission could not be formed in the matter of transactions between two persons. He alleged that proceedings of the matter were reflecting bias as no application of his client to change the investigation team was accepted.
Rejecting the plea of Bukhari, Justice Khawwja observed that it would also not be accepted by Malik Riaz if attorney general Irfan Qadir is appointed as probing officer in the matter.
The bench observed that it cannot stop the commission from investigation without hearing the stance of Arsalan Iftikhar and others and it has issued notices to all the parties concerned to present their versions on the issue till October 30.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 3rd, 2012.
The Supreme Court has rejected the plea to prevent the one-man commission of Dr Shoaib Suddle from probing the alleged business deals of Malik Riaz Hussain and Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry’s son Dr Arsalan Iftikhar.
Zahid Bukhari, counsel for Malik Riaz, had challenged the commission in the Supreme Court over which a two-member bench of Justices Jawwad S Khawaja and Khiliji Arif Hussain conducted a hearing on Tuesday.
Bukhari urged the bench to pass a stay order against Dr Suddle till further orders of the court, saying a commission could not be formed in the matter of transactions between two persons. He alleged that proceedings of the matter were reflecting bias as no application of his client to change the investigation team was accepted.
Rejecting the plea of Bukhari, Justice Khawwja observed that it would also not be accepted by Malik Riaz if attorney general Irfan Qadir is appointed as probing officer in the matter.
The bench observed that it cannot stop the commission from investigation without hearing the stance of Arsalan Iftikhar and others and it has issued notices to all the parties concerned to present their versions on the issue till October 30.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 3rd, 2012.