The Supreme Court sought on Monday the standpoint of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and Interior Minister Rehman Malik through the principal secretary and interior secretary respectively about why the apex court’s orders were negated so far in reinstating the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Additional Director General Zafar Qureshi, who was heading a team probing the National Insurance Company Limited (NICL) scam on court orders.
A two-member Supreme Court bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and Justice Ghulam Rabbani was hearing the NICL scam case. The court told FIA Legal Affairs Director Azam Khan through Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq to submit a detailed summary on the next hearing explaining what progress was made in the four first information reports registered against the accused by the FIA in the NICL scam. The court also told him to provide details on the portion of embezzled money transferred abroad by the accused and explain how many suspects would be arrested in the case.
Citing a case titled “Mirza Rasheed Baig”, the court told Khan to produce on the next hearing an original copy of the letter which was issued by the Anti-Crime Organisation of the UK in the NICL case. During the hearing, the attorney general stated that it was not possible for him to contact the prime minister immediately and requested for adjournment of the matter for some days. The chief justice noted that enough time had already been given, adding that it was time to take the matter seriously. He stated that the court had been showing restraint and intentionally avoiding asking the prime minister and interior minister to submit replies on the situation.
