Hearing the Rs 7 billion ephedrine chemical quota scam in which Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani’s son Ali Musa Gilani has also been nominated as an accused, the Supreme Court on Friday directed the Anti-Narcotic Force (ANF) to conduct a free and fair trial and investigation into the matter without maligning anybody. A three-member bench of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Khilji Arif Hussain and Justice Tariq Parvez also declared the directives of Narcotics Control Ministry through which prosecutors’ funds were frozen as null and void.
The court noted that Ministry of Narcotics Control Secretary Zafar Abbas Lak was creating hurdles in the investigations instead of extending his cooperation. The bench also asked Lak to reverse all directives that resulted in transfer of officials probing into the scam, including ANF Regional Director Brigadier Fahim Ahmed Khan and investigation officer Deputy Director Abid Zulfiqar, as well as those who rendered the ANF dysfunctional and powerless through substituting ANF director general with Narcotics Control secretary. Earlier on April 10, the bench had summoned Primer Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani’s son Ali Musa Gilani and some bureaucrats, including PM’s Principal Secretary Khushnood Akhtar Lashari, to appear before the court for being allegedly involved in the scam.
In Friday’s hearing, Salman Akram Raja, counsel for Ali Musa Gilani and Khushnood Akhtar Lashari, informed the bench that his clients were ready to appear before the court, whereas the bench allowed former parliamentarian Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed to become party in the case and asked him to extend cooperation to the ANF. Narcotics acting secretary Zafar Abbas Lak told the bench that the ANF had not recovered any facility to convert ephedrine into any narcotic material so far. He said any evidence of misuse of ephedrine had also not been traced.
He blamed the ANF of fabricating cases, adding that ANF officers were rebels who never bothered to follow rules and regulations.Lak said the ANF implicated innocent people in drug cases and he was ready to resign if the accusation were not proved.
He maintained that it could also be possible that ANF might even incriminate the prime minister of the country by planting heroin in his car.
Justice Khilji Arif Hussain said in his remarks that the investigation teams must be dismissed if thousands of cases were registered on fabricated grounds. Lak requested the bench to protect him from the ANF, saying the force may arrest him from his home, to which the chief justice said, “You are a powerful person who can transfer a sitting brigadier and general”. The CJ added that incumbent narcotics secretary Zafar Abbas was becoming the basis of defaming the ANF.
Munir Ahmed Piracha and Syed Zulfiqar Abbas Naqvi, counsels for M/s Danas Pharmaceuticals pleaded before the bench that they had already approached a high court for grant of bail and had nothing to say in present proceedings. Raja Shahid Mehmood Abbasi, counsel for ANF, pointed out that the bail matter was lingering on for one or the other reason, upon which the bench asked the concerned high court to dispose of the matter of bail within seven days. The bench adjourned the hearing of the case to be fixed after three weeks.
