–Federal agency tells SC it has failed to trace bank transactions pertaining to 25-year-old case
–Says witnesses’ statements do not corroborate with each other and many politicians refused to record written statements
ISLAMABAD: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Saturday recommended the Supreme Court (SC) to close the case filed by Air Marshal (r) Asghar Khan.
The agency submitted a report to the top court in which it said it does not have enough evidence for a criminal investigation into the case.
The report also said that the witnesses’ statements do not corroborate with each other and many politicians refused to record their written statements. Moreover, it said that politicians who were accused of taking money also refuted the allegations.
The case is more than 25 years old and no record of bank transactions could be found, the FIA told the apex court.
A day earlier, the apex court announced that it will hear on December 31 (Monday) the case of the former air chief pertaining to the distribution of Rs140 million among political parties ahead of the 1990 general elections.
THE CASE:
On October 19, 2012, the apex court had issued a 141-page verdict, ordering legal proceedings against former Pakistan Army chief General (r) Mirza Aslam Beg and former director general of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lt Gen (r) Asad Durrani in a case filed 16 years ago by Air Marshal Asghar Khan.
Khan, who passed away in January this year, was represented in the SC by Advocate Salman Akram Raja.
Khan had moved the SC in 1996 alleging that the two senior army officers and then president Ghulam Ishaq Khan had doled out Rs140m among several politicians ahead of the 1990 polls to ensure Benazir Bhutto’s defeat in the polls.
The Islamic Jamhoori Ittihad (IJI), consisting of nine parties, including the Pakistan Muslim League, National People’s Party and Jamaat-e-Islami, had won the 1990 elections, with Nawaz Sharif being elected prime minister. The alliance had been formed to oppose the Benazir Bhutto-led Pakistan People’s Party.
In 1996, Khan had written a letter to the then SC chief justice Nasim Hassan Shah naming Beg, Durrani and Younis Habib, the ex-Habib Bank Sindh chief and owner of Mehran Bank, about the unlawful disbursement of public money and its misuse for political purposes.
The FIA had launched its investigation into the case at the end of 2013, almost a year after the SC ordered an investigation into the distribution of Rs140m to thwart the PPP.
On August 11 of this year, the SC asked the FIA to submit a progress report in the case. It had issued notices to the respondents, including former premier Nawaz Sharif.
On June 9, Nawaz and JI head Sirajul Haq submitted their written replies in the case. Rejecting the allegations that his party received Rs3.5m from the ISI in 1990, Nawaz said he did not receive any money from the agency to run the election campaign.