Malik Riaz's lawyer terms Suddle commission 'illegal'

Advocate says the commission has no authority to seek or examine tax details of his client, or register a case.

ISLAMABAD: The counsel for property developer Malik Riaz Advocate Zahid Bokhari on Thursday expressed complete distrust over the one-man inquiry commission headed by Shoaib Suddle, probing Arsalan Iftikhar case.

Talking to media outside the Supreme Court on Thursday, Bokhari claimed that the Suddle Commission had no constitutional mandate to probe the matter. He said that the Federal Tax Ombudsman Shoaib Suddle had family relations with the chief justice of Pakistan, thus the findings of the commission could not be impartial.

To a query, he said "we will not appear before the commission till a decision on a review petition pending before the Supreme Court against its [commission] formation. He said the commission had been informed in writing about his stance.

On reports that the commission had sent its' findings to the Supreme Court, Bokhari claimed that the proceedings conducted by the commission from October 6 to November 6 were illegal. He said the commission had no legal authority to order registration of a case against his client.

Besides, he said the commission also had no authority to seek or examine the tax details of his client.

The Supreme Court had formed a one-man commission headed by Shoaib Suddle to probe into the allegations Malik Riaz had leveled against Dr Arsalan Iftikhar.