Kamran Faisal case: SC directs NAB to write concerns over bench

Says if they are reasonable, they will not be contested.

ISLAMABAD:

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) used Monday’s hearing on the mysterious death of NAB investigator Kamran Faisal to voice its discontent and lack of confidence over the bench hearing the case. As a result, the Supreme Court (SC) directed NAB to submit its concerns in writing.

At the outset of the hearing, NAB Prosecutor General K K Agha conveyed the bureau’s concerns to the judicial bench of Justice Jawwad S Khawaja and Justice Khilji Arif Hussain. Agha said that NAB was not satisfied with how the bench was proceeding with the case.

In response, Justice Khawaja said that such concerns should be submitted to the court in writing. Justice Khilji added that if the concerns were reasonable, then the bench would not contest them. Justice Khawaja maintained that the government itself had given importance to the case, even constituting a commission to ascertain the facts. Justice Khilji added that each member of the bench wanted to unearth the facts in the case.



“Our only concern is whether Kamran Faisal’s death has any link with the RPPs case or not and whether he was under pressure from certain quarters. If yes, then it comes under obstruction of justice,” Justice Khawaja told NAB officials.

NAB Chairman Fasih Bokhari, along with the Inspector General of Police Islamabad, was summoned for the court proceedings. Earlier, Bokhari submitted a letter to President Asif Ali Zardari stating his reservations over the Supreme Court’s tight deadlines.

Bokhari said that the SC had not given NAB enough time to implement its orders.

Attorney General Irfan Qadir addressed the court on behalf of the interior ministry. He asked the court to put an end to the ongoing inquiry of the commission, in response to which the court sought a notification from the commission formed by the government by the next hearing.

Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal was named the head of the one-member commission.



The court did not accept a copy of the notification submitted by Qadir during the hearing, saying that there was no proper statutory regulatory order (SRO) mentioned on it. Qadir was directed to submit a copy of the notification at the next hearing on February 1.

Kamran Faisal was found hanging from the ceiling fan of his room at a government hostel in Islamabad on January 18, three days after the Supreme Court ordered the prime minister’s arrest in the rental power projects case. Faisal was part of the team investigating it.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 29^th, 2013.