Secret funds case: SC rejects Intelligence Bureau chief’s reply

Court directs Finance Secretary to present details regarding the sum’s transfer from IB’s accounts.

ISLAMABAD:

The Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday once again asked the incumbent Intelligence Bureau (IB) chief to explain where the Rs400 million withdrawn from the agency’s secret fund were used, if not for toppling the Punjab government in 2009.

Declaring IB Director General (DG) Akhtar Hussain Gorchani’s earlier reply in this regard unsatisfactory, the three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry asked him to file a fresh reply ‘without concealing facts from the court’.

The court also directed the Finance Secretary to present details regarding the sum’s transfer from IB’s accounts and any other correspondence pertaining to the matter.



The court had earlier observed that if the allegations levelled by Asad Kharal (through a news report published in The Express Tribune) were false, the IB DG should “at least disclose what other object this huge amount was withdrawn for.”

“A record must have been maintained as to whom this amount was distributed among or where it was spent,” the court’s earlier order noted.

The court had issued the direction following the testimonies of two former IB chiefs which confirmed that the amount was indeed withdrawn from the agency’s fund but maintained it was not used against the Punjab government.

In a letter to the SC, former IB DG Dr Shoaib Suddle confirmed “the allegations put forth by the petitioner, Asad Kharal, to the extent of the withdrawal of the Rs400 million amount during the year 2008-2009.” He maintained, however, the amount was not withdrawn for the purpose of toppling the Punjab government. Dr Suddle held the post between August 2008 and May 2009.

Former IB DG Tariq Lodhi in his statement before the court did not deny the Rs400 million were withdrawn as well. He too, however, claimed the amount had not been intended for toppling the Punjab government. Lodhi occupied the post for two months before Suddle took over.

The case emerged after the SC took suo motu notice on a news story published in The Express Tribune on March 14, 2012, titled ‘Govt withdrew millions from Intelligence Bureau’s account’. The story claimed the federal government withdrew Rs270 million from IB’s secret fund to push ‘its political agenda in Punjab’.

During Wednesday’s proceedings, the court also allowed The Express Tribune reporter Kharal to submit additional information in a sealed envelope due to the matter’s sensitivity. Meanwhile, the bench directed former IB chief Lodhi through incumbent DG Gorchani to appear in person before the next hearing of the case on January 8, 2013.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 3^rd, 2013.