Pakistan Steel Mills case: SC indicts Rehman Malik on contempt charges

Says explanation and apology are not enough to exonerate former minister.

ISLAMABAD:

The Supreme Court decided on Monday to formally indict former federal minister for interior Rehman Malik on contempt of court charges for meddling in Pakistan Steel Mills investigations while the matter was pending before the apex court.

Malik appeared in person before a three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry also comprising Justice Gulzar Ahmed and Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed, where he failed to change the court’s mind with an apology and explanation.

“Let the matter be fixed by the registrar office within seven days before the court to frame the charges against Rehman Malik and the attorney general of Pakistan to act as prosecutor in the case,” noted the bench in their order.

“Though the courts use their contempt jurisdiction sparingly, when the issue of the SC’s respect and esteem is in question, the matter should be taken seriously,” said the order. “Prima facie we are of the opinion that the explanation coupled with apology is not sufficient to exonerate him from the charges of contempt of court,” it further reads.

“I never intended to interfere in the judicial proceedings, and was only trying to enlarge the scope of the inquiry which was already being conducted by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA),” contended Malik.



In an application filed on February 28, Malik said he had always placed the judiciary, including the apex court, in high esteem and never intended to undermine its dignity and respect nor had any intentions to do so in the future.

Malik was initially issued a show cause notice for interfering in Pakistan Steel Mills corruption investigation case in pursuance of the PSM scam on May of last year. The court noted that by transferring former FIA DG Tariq Khosa in December 2009 he had interfered in the case.

Khosa was heading a team investigating corruption in the steel mills. As the team began making progress in the probe, he was transferred.  Later, though the FIA continued investigations, instead of nabbing the real culprits the team members tried to protect them. The chief justice said that in view of the judicial order Malik shouldn’t have constituted another team for investigation in the scam.

Malik sought time to file another statement, saying that he had to go to Kazakhstan with the President, but Justice Gulzar remarked that he could not go because of charges against him. “Earlier you were minister, but now you are not,” the chief justice reminded Malik.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 19^th, 2013.