Drum roll. All rise. Call to witness.
Real estate tycoon Malik Riaz Hussain arrived in Islamabad on Monday night, all pepped up to stand before the Supreme Court in person and lay before it the “explosive” evidence regarding the monetary incentives and payments meted out to Dr Arsalan Iftikhar, son of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, in anticipation of getting cases pending against him with the SC settled in his favor.
In what is being called the mother of all conspiracies, Malik Riaz – reported to have the right friends in the right places, the most notable being President Asif Ali Zardari – allegedly paid between Rs 300 million and Rs 400 million to the CJP’s son to get pending cases decided in his favor.
Though Justice Chaudhry’s son has categorically denied having ever met or knowing Riaz, some noted TV anchors have told the apex court that they had been shown documentary proof of the payments made to Arsalan by the property tycoon. As the two-member SC bench of Justice Jawwad S Khawaja and Justice Khilji Arif Hussain resumed hearing in the suo motu notice of the graft charges against Arsalan on Monday, it rejected an application
filed by the CJP’s son that requested the court to order the registration of an FIR [First Information Report] against Malik Riaz for running a slander campaign against him in the media.
Arsalan said that he was ready to go to jail if the court decided to send him and Malik Riaz to prison and put both their names on the ECL [Exit Control List]. The CJP’s son also demanded the court provide him security, which the bench allowed, asking the attorney general to talk to the interior secretary in this regard.
Arsalan had also said in his plea that Malik Riaz had videos of his family’s stay in London and he be barred from releasing such material on the social media, and be directed to present them in the SC.
In its directives, the court issued third notice to Ali Muhammad Riaz, chief executive of Bahria Town and son of Malik Riaz, to appear before the court in person.
The bench also rejected a request by Zahid Hussain Bukhari, counsel for Malik Riaz, for grant of two days’ time to submit a concise statement, directing him to file the reply by Tuesday (today).
It directed the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to trace all tax statements and returns of Bahria Town and submit it with the court.
Responding to Arsalan’s claims, Malik Riaz’s counsel said his client had not talked to any TV channel about possessing photographs of Arsalan’s mother and sister.
He assured the court that his client would not do anything which could bring disrespect to the chief justice or his family.
Rejecting Bukhari’s appeal for time, Justice Khawaja said the proceedings would not be conducted per his client’s wishes, adding that it was unacceptable to him that the concise statement had not been filed so far. “We have to proceed in the matter realizing gravity of the situation,” he maintained.
The judge said the bench would not let the issue drag unnecessarily and “provide grist to the mills”, as the issue was being widely debated across the country due to its significance.
Justice Khwaja also warned Bukhari that the court would “consider measures if Malik Riaz did not appear tomorrow”.
Earlier, the Special Branch threw an exclusive security blanket around Malik Riaz as soon as he landed in Karachi onboard his private jet, barring him from meeting or talking to anyone. Riaz’s aircraft later left for Islamabad after refueling.
Upon reaching the Islamabad airport, the central character of the “familygate” scandal refused to answer reporters’ queries on the “explosive” evidence he is likely to present in court. “The SC has barred me from commenting in this regard. Whatever statement I have to make will be in the courtroom,” he said before being escorted out of the airport.
‘THE BOMB’ IS HERE!
