CJP quits bench hearing ‘prodigal’ son’s case

Not before me. In an expected move in the interest of justice, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, who had taken a suo motu notice of his son Dr Arsalan Iftikhar’s alleged involvement in a Rs 340 million scam that hit the family of the top judge, on Thursday decided to disengage himself from the bench hearing the case.
However, he remained steadfast in his conviction to protect the institution without any consideration that his son was one of the main characters in the plot that real estate tycoon Malik Riaz had reportedly fabricated to influence the cases pending against him in the Supreme Court.
At the onset of Thursday’s hearing, the chief justice announced to step down from the three-member bench and left the courtroom.
Later, the court continued hearing the case with Justice Jawwad S Khwaja and Justice Khilji Arif Hussain on the bench. “I have faith in Supreme Court judges,” the chief justice remarked after Attorney General Irfan Qadir again argued that the CJP could not be part of a bench hearing his son’s case. The Supreme Court, however, ordered formation of a two-member bench to hear the case.
Talking to reporters outside the Supreme Court, Malik Riaz’s counsel Zahid Bukhari said the chief justice’s decision to step down from the bench was appreciable. Bukhari said Malik Riaz would appear in the court once he recovered and returned to the country.
Before the chief justice stepped down from the bench, he asked TV anchor Kamran Khan whether he had any documentary evidence pertaining to the allegations against Dr Arsalan Iftikhar. Responding to the query, Kamran Khan said Malik Riaz had shown him certain documents which pertained to Dr Arsalan’s travel details as well as a copy of his passport and receipts of the payment made for his shopping abroad through credit cards. Kamran said although the documents had been shown to him, he was not provided with the copies. He told the court that payments for Dr Arsalan’s travel, his stay abroad and shopping had been made by a son-in-law of Malik Riaz.
“I asked Malik Riaz what benefit he took from the favours he had been giving to the CJP’s son, and he responded that so far he had taken no benefit, rather 42 cases were decided against him (Malik Riaz),” Kamran Khan told the bench.
“What is the reason behind such a huge bribe,” the CJP remarked, adding that he was not responsible for his offspring as stated in the Holy Quran.
“I own no house and no car despite having been a judge and hearing high-profile cases for 22 years,” the CJP said.
“I swear I do not know what business Arsalan does. The accused standing before me is not my son, he is just an individual named Arsalan,” he said. Kamran Khan said Riaz had told him that he had also shared the evidence against the CJP’s son with Aitzaz Ahsan who was shocked and started crying. After a brief break, the two-member bench comprising Justice Jawaad Khawaj and Justice Khilji Arif resumed hearing in the case. The counsel for Malik Riaz, Zahid Bukhari, requested that a larger bench be formed to hear the case.
The bench directed Bukhari to inform his client not to conduct a media campaign.
The court directed Malik Riaz and Dr Arsalan to submit their detailed response within two days. The court also summoned the tax returns of Malik Riaz along with the details of his assets. The hearing of the case was adjourned until June 11. What appears from the details given by some anchors and journalists, who had the privilege of having met the real estate tycoon and seen the documentary evidence, it is not simply an act of desperation that Malik Riaz finally lost his patience and decided to expose Dr Arsalan for having cheated him and did not help settle his cases.
The timing of this explosive disclosure is significant. Malik Riaz, who is a close friend of President Asif Ali Zardari, understandably chose to make the issue public at a time when the government was facing a number of cases in the Supreme Court and hitting the top judge with such a volcanic thunder put him in line with other top figures whose sons are also involved in mega scams.