LAHORE, Dec 22: Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on Wednesday remarked that the judiciary was the sole institution which enjoyed public trust and no one could hoodwink the courts.
The CJP gave these remarks hearing a bail matter in a Rs1.38 billion forex company scam and scolded the NAB deputy director for conducting poor investigation into the scandal involving many bigwigs of the country.
The CJP was presiding over a three-member full bench which comprised Justice Jawad S Khwaja and Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday.
During the course of the hearing, the judges planned to get NAB investigating officer Ziaullah Khan arrested at the court and summon the NAB chairman, but decided to first get a report from the NAB director-general on the action taken on the matter and directed him to present his report on Thursday (today).
Mohsin Ayub, owner of the forex company, filed the petition. He has been in NAB custody for the last four years.
The petitioner’s counsel informed the bench that many bigwigs, including Senator Gulzar Ahmad, his sons Senator Waqar Ahmad Khan, Senator Ammar Ahmad Khan, former attorney-general Malik Muhammad Qayyum and DSP Iqbal Tikka were the beneficiaries who abducted and implicated the accused/petitioner in a false case to grab a Rs1 billion worth of 12-kanal commercial plot, Qasre Zauq, near Liberty Market.
The petitioner entertained investments of the people but was allegedly trapped by these personalities who, through DSP Tikka, abducted him and took into possession a power of attorney in respect of the investors and got signed some papers in their favour, the counsel said.
It was on record that the accountability court had ordered freezing of the property and a stay about its transfer was also issued by the LHC, but the NAB sold and transferred the same to Asian Gas of Senator Ammar, he added.
On court’s query, the NAB investigating officer could not give any satisfactory answer to this argument of the counsel but tried to lead the court to irrelevant aspect of the matter.
State counsel Mian Bashir also endorsed that the said personalities had invested in the deal and later on the property was sold out to Ammar’s company despite freezing of property and stay order by the accountability court.
Expressing serious displeasure at NAB’s performance, the chief justice observed that the court would not spare anyone who was found dishonest and would take the responsible to task.
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