Arsalan Iftikhar case: No trust in Suddle commission, says Malik Riaz

Real estate tycoon says he is willing to face NAB or FIA inquiry.

ISLAMABAD:

Property developer Malik Riaz said that he has no confidence in any commission, particularly the commission headed by Dr Shoaib Suddle, investigating charges of financial impropriety against the chief justice’s son Arsalan Iftikhar.

The Supreme Court had transferred investigations into the case from the National Accountability Bureau and formed a new investigating commission, headed by Dr Shoaib Suddle, a former chief of the Investigation Bureau.

“I have appeared before the commission only to tell it that I have no trust in it or any other commission,” Malik Riaz told journalists after submitting a written statement. He added that he was ready to face an inquiry by NAB or the Federal Investigation Agency, “but not a commission”.

All former generals were investigated by these two institutions, he said.

Malik Riaz also told reporters that he had not submitted his passport to the commission as it never asked him to do so. “I would have submitted, had they asked me to,” he added.

About lack of trust in the commission, Malik Riaz’s counsel, Advocate Zahid Bukhari, told journalists that the commission had completed its legal term in early October 2012 hence “it was no longer a legal body”.

Bukhari said certain members of the commission were related to Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry’s son Arsalan Iftikhar, therefore, they were biased.

Later, speaking to Express News, Malik Riaz said he had more evidence against Arsalan which he would reveal and these would cause tremors.

The property developer complained that his review petition was not being taken seriously, while Arsalan’s was being handled in a “VVIP style”.  He alleged that over 100 cases were brought against him since he had spoken against the chief justice’s son.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 14^th, 2012.