A fresh complaint against former Attorney General (AG) Sardar Latif Khosa alleging unethical practices, ie taking money to 'get decision of choice' from the Supreme Court was filed with Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) here on Wednesday. Malik Qamar uz Zaman submitted the complaint seeking early hearing, with the apprehension that the matter may face unnecessary delay.
Meanwhile, the PBC had announced that it would convene a meeting on March 13 to conduct hearing of the complaint along with pending issues of the similar nature. Earlier, in October 2009, Latif Khan Khosa was sacked as Attorney General (AG) on another complaint of corruption, but afterwards he was appointed as Advisor to the Prime Minister.
Dr Mazhar Jamal, wife of the Hamid Maghfoor Shah (complainant), had alleged Latif Khan Khosa of taking Rs 3 million in bribes from Maghfoor for getting decision of the case in his favour, during the tenure of Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
However, he lost the case, and Maghfoor was sentenced to five years' imprisonment and fine. The matter was placed before the apex court and recently it had referred the case to the PBC for hearing. Revealing his misery as a litigant, the complainant Zaman stated that his case was pending since 2005 and could not reach a logical end due to unethical practices of his lawyers.
In 2005, I engaged former AG Malik Qayyum, however, on the date of hearing, he refused to appear before the bench. Then I engaged Munir Parach but later on he was elevated as judge of now defunct Islamabad High Court (IHG) thus Latif Khosa was approached. Afterwards Khosa was appointed as AG and demanded additional amount, therefore, Nawaz Kharal was engaged, the complaint said.
Khosa demanded a fee of Rs 1 million, but later on agreed to a payment of $5000 and the fee was duly paid. In the meantime, Khosa was appointed as the AG. 'I went to see Khosa in the AG office to enquire whether he will be able to pursue my case. I was told by Khosa that in his new capacity he will have much more influence on the judges. And to my utter disgust, almost a year has lapsed without initiation of hearing on my case', said the complainant.
Thereafter, Latif Khosa called me and said that in his new capacity as the AG he can get a decision of his choice. For doing so he demanded an extra $5000 which I could not arrange. Resultantly, he dissociated himself from the case and my case is still pending. Realising that Khosa dissociated himself from the case, I personally called on Khosa many times asking him to return my brief and the amount paid to him as fee. Khosa promised to return my brief and the fee paid to him.
He then kept on delaying which gave an impression that he will never return the fee, said the complainant. It is, therefore, requested that an appropriate action may very kindly be initiated against Khosa for committing gross misconduct, jeopardising the interests of the client.
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