The Supreme Court on Thursday directed Federal Investigation Agency to continue probe against all the persons allegedly involved in fake bank accounts scam except former President Asif Ali Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur. The Chief Justice said: "We neither passed an order to put names of Asif Zardari and Faryal Talpur on Exit Control List (ECL) nor summoned them." The FIA was restrained to take any action against Zardari and Faryal till elections.
"We don't want people to say that the elections are rigged. We want transparent and fair elections," the Chief Justice said. If there are some anomalies then those should be brought to the notice of the apex court, he added.
Farooq H Naek, the counsel for the ex-president, said that for the last two days media have been airing news that Zardari and Faryal are summoned by the apex court and their names are placed on the ECL. He said that strict order be passed that the media should not broadcast such news. The Chief Justice said, "If the media are airing this news then you should have clarified."
The court observed that the media are free and therefore the court can't curb their freedom. Justice Ijaz asked the counsel if he wants the court to pass an order against the independence of media and restrict them.
"We did not put their [Zardari and Faryal] names on ECL but said the fake accounts were opened in their names," the CJP said. He said after elections they would examine whether or not to place their names on ECL. The Chief Justice, however, inquired from Naek who put Rs 15 million in Zardari's bank account, adding he [Zardari] should inform about it.
Hussain Lawai, former chairman Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) who is still in FIA custody, said he was not involved in the case, while he has done nothing wrong. He stated if one of the bank managers opened a fake account when he was President of Summit Bank then how he could be responsible for that. He requested the Chief Justice to grant him bail. However, the Chief Justice told him that the concerned court could provide him bail and not the apex court. The FIA was ordered to continue to probe against him.
The Chief Justice said if FIA has arrested Hussain Lawai then there might have been some reasons.
FIA Director General Bashir Memon informed the court that till date the banks are not cooperating with the agency. The banks presidents and CEOs were directed to join the investigation. The Chief Justice, however, asked the FIA not to cause unnecessary inconvenience to anyone. "You need a highly technical team to probe this matter." The court indicated that they might constitute a joint investigation team (JIT) for the investigation into this scam.
The Summit Bank counsel told the court that money of Summit Bank equity in State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) is the pledged money of shareholders and not of the bank. He said various circulars of the SBP give protection to it.
The Chief Justice said: "We are neither endorsing nor cancelling the circulars and will see to withdraw our order to unfreeze the accounts." The Chief Justice said till date the court has not passed any adverse order against Summit Bank.
Everyone would have to follow the law, said the CJP and added they want to end corruption from the country.
Additional Attorney General Nayyar Rizvi on behalf of the DG FIA said that notices were issued to Tariq Sultan, Erum Aqeel, Muhammad Ashraf, Muhammad Iqbal, Muhammad Umair, Adnan Javed Qasim Ali, Shehzad Ali, Azam Wazir Khan, Nasser Abdullah Lootha, Sher Muhammad, Zain Malik, Noreen Sultan, Kiran Aman, Hassan Shah, Muhammad Iqbal Khan, Anwar Majeed, Abdul Ghani Majeed, Dawood Muluka, Aslam Masood, Muhammad Arif Khan, Nimar Majeed, Mustafa Zulfiqar Majeed, Asif Zardari and Faryal Talpur.
He said that some of the persons didn't receive notices. The bench therefore again issued notices and directed to file reply by 30th July. Farooq H Naek was directed to file reply on behalf of Zardari and Faryal Talpur.
The case was adjourned until August 6.
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