“Whatever I have earned, it’s all black and white. I’m an honest businessman and I pay my taxes and I will prove this, God willing,” Arsalan Iftikhar, the central character of a graft scandal allegedly targeting the Chief Justice of Pakistan, told Shirin Sadeghi of The Huffington Post, adding that he has never bribed or blackmailed anyone. “My conscience is clear,” he said, “and by the Grace of God, with a period of time, I will prove myself.” Chaudhry also denies knowing his accuser, Malik Riaz Hussain. “I do not know this man, Malik Riaz, or his son-in-law, or his daughter. I never came across… never seen them in my life.” He says Hussain’s claims are rubbish because “Nobody can influence my father, the whole world knows this. If anybody thinks that being cozy with me can influence my father, they are totally wrong.” On June 12, Hussain filed a statement in the Supreme Court claiming that some Rs. 342.50 million was paid over three years to Chaudhry, who was allegedly blackmailing him. The court has asked the attorney-general to verify Hussain’s claims and has charged him with contempt. The 32-year-old Chaudhry dismissed the documents provided by Hussain to the court and media that chronicle alleged payments made by Hussain’s son-in-law and daughter to cover Chaudhry and his family’s vacations in London and Monte Carlo in 2009, 2010 and 2011. “These documents have no authenticity,” said Chaudhry, adding that the trips were organized by his friend Ahmad Khalil—“a friend who ended up like a Brutus” but one he trusted enough “to not think anything of borrowing money from”—and Khalil’s cousin Zaid Rehman. (Khalil is also an associate of Hussain’s.) “I always paid back,” said Chaudhry. “I paid [Khalil] and I told him that if there are any other payments to be made from my side, please let me know. He said ‘no.’” Chaudhry, a newlywed, was also offended by insinuations about him and a female companion who accompanied him and Khalil on their 2010 Monte Carlo trop. “That’s totally rubbish and bullshit,” he said of the companion, who is Khalil’s wife. “She’s like a sister.” Citing unspecified security threats, Chaudhry had asked the court for protection. He now lives in Balochistan House in Islamabad, away from his parents.
