Malik Riaz declines to appear before Shoaib Suddle’s commission

Malik Riaz, the real estate tycoon and one of the major characters in the Arsalan Iftikhar graft scandal, has refused to appear before Shoaib Suddle, the one-man commission probing the case.

Zahid Bukhari, the counsel for Malik Raiz, while speaking to the media said that his client wouldn’t appear before the commission and he would file a review petition in the Supreme Court against the formation of the commission.

Earlier, the apex court constituted the commission under the chair of Dr. Shoaib Suddle, the Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) to investigate alleged corruption of Dr. Arsalan Iftikhar, the son of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.

Over directives of the courts, the commission obtained the complete record of the case from the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

Under the ruling of the apex court, Suddle will have to complete his investigation within 30 days and he will be granted the powers of a magistrate and will be able to call assistance from lawyers and deploy state machinery as required.

He is mandated to launch a probe against Malik Riaz, Dr Arsalan Iftikhar and Riaz’s son-in-law Salman Ahmed. He will also investigate SP Faisal Bashir and his subordinate officer’s link with Riaz along with their professional misconduct.

Citing reason for the non-appearance, Bukhari said that they were not taken onboard regarding formation of commission.

He observed, “We do not accept the Suddle’s Commission because it has been formed against the norms of justice”.

Quoting statement of Asma Jahangir, the lawyer said that Shoaib Suddle has family terms with Arsalan Iftikhar hence he couldn’t investigate the case.

According to a report, he was among the people welcoming guests at the wedding of Dr Arsalan Iftikhar, he added.

He noted, “The court’s decision was in violation of articles 8, 9 and 25 of the constitution”.

The apex court had stopped the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) from investigation in Arsalan Iftikhar case and constituted the one-member committee to probe the case.

Malik Riaz, the former chairman of the Bahria Town, had accused Arsalan Iftikhar of accepting Rs340 million in bribe for settling his cases in the court.

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Posted by Faisal Farooq on Sep 10 2012. Filed under Latest News, National, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.