Suddle asks for 30 more days to wrap up inquiry

Complains about non-cooperation of Malik Riaz, interior ministry.

ISLAMABAD: The one-man inquiry commission formed to investigate corruption charges against Arsalan Iftikhar, the son of Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, and real estate tycoon Malik Riaz has sought another month from the court to complete its task.

In his interim report submitted before the Supreme Court on Monday, Dr Shoaib Suddle, who leads the commission, also complained about the non-cooperation of Riaz, as well as the interior ministry.

“Despite the efforts of the commission, the inquiry could not be finalised within the stipulated period of 30 days due to the non-cooperation of Malik Riaz Hussain and dilly-dallying, particularly by the interior ministry in providing the required experts and support staff,” stated Suddle in the interim report.

The two-member bench headed by Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja had given 30 days to Dr Suddle for completing the inquiry.  The inquiry involved allegations by Riaz against Dr Iftikhar, specifically that the latter had received monetary favours from him.

The interim report said that it cannot launch an overseas inquiry of the case at this stage. “Whether and when the commission will need to visit overseas jurisdictions to gather evidence is premature at this stage,” the Suddle commission said in its report.

The commission said it had asked the interior ministry to provide the staff of the FIA for technical assistance to which the ministry replied that it should ask some other department for help since the court had expressed its dissatisfaction with the performance of the agency in the past.

Similarly, Malik Riaz was asked to submit a concise statement listing his allegations against Dr lftikhar, along with supporting evidence which Riaz failed to do. After repeated notices, through his counsel on September 25th, Riaz asked the commission not to proceed further as it had no confidence in it and had challenged its competence before the court.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 16^th, 2012.