Supreme Court dissolves Shoaib Suddle commission

The Supreme Court has dissolved the Dr Shoaib Suddle judicial commission which had been tasked to investigate allegations of a Rs342 million business deal between Arsalan Iftikhar and Malik Riaz.

A two-member bench of the apex court resumed hearing of allegations involved Arslan Iftikhar, the son of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary  and business tycoon Malik Riaz.

The bench said that the court had taken a notice on the issue when the judiciary was dragged into the matter but since that had not been proven, the commission was no longer needed. The bench further said that the findings of the Shoaib Suddle commission should be made public.

Counsel for Malik Riaz, Zahid Bokhari said that the matter was between two individuals and did not involve corruption from the national exchequer. He moreover requested the bench to stop the commission’s proceedings so that whichever party wanted to take whatever legal recourse, they may approach the concerned avenues in that regard.

Later, while talking to the media he said justice had prevailed, adding that, his client had been raising objections over the legality of the commission from day one. The counsel said his client’s objections on the commission’s report had been noted by the court.

Bokhari added that the Shoaib Suddle commission had no authority to investigate the funds of Bahria Town.

Earlier on Thursday, the commission submitted its report to the court, claiming that Arsalan Iftikhar admitted that he had received favours’ from Malik Riaz, his friend or his son-in-law. However, he didn’t answer why he had accepted these and the businessman’s claim that he had favoured Arsalan in order to get court cases settled in his favour.

The report also makes a mention of the Bahria Town, a real estate company owned by Malik Riaz. He is accused of land grab, blackmail, extortion, cheating, fraud and tax evasion in affairs of the town.

Arsalan Iftikhar admitted that he had visited Monte Carlo from London in July 2010. He was accompanied by Ahmed Khalil, a friend of Malik Riaz’s son-in-law Salman Ahmed Khan and Sara Hanif, wife of Ahmed Khalil.

The report said Malik Riaz, in his statement, had claimed spending Rs342m on Arsalan Iftikhar, but evidence about only Rs5.58m was provided to the commission.

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Posted by Web Desk on Dec 7 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.