The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday ordered Director Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Lahore to deposit within two days Rs 20 million it had withdrawn from the frozen accounts of Moonis Elahi, who was an accused in the National Insurance Company Limited (NICL) multi-billion rupees land scam.
However, Justice Ghulam Rabbani has been assigned by the SC to investigate whether there had been any political involvement in the NICL scam. He has been given one month to probe into advertisements, published and disseminated in print and electronic media with a view to maligning judiciary. A three-member special bench of the SC comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Tariq Pervez and Justice Ameer Hani Muslim was hearing the NICL case.
The Chief Justice observed: "We would like to bring the NAB on board in the case". During the proceedings, the bench told Director FIA, Lahore Waqar Ahmed and Assistant Director Legal Zulfiqar Ali that they would be sent to jail if they failed to make payment of the amount.
The CJP observed that DG FIA Tahseen Anwar Shah had not been implementing court's order. The bench also asked Director General FIA to pay TA/DA allowance to Qureshi, former Additional Director General and head of the investigation in the NICL scam. The court expressed its displeasure over Director FIA, Lahore for de-freezing two accounts of Moonis Elahi. The bench inquired about the grounds behind the action.
The Chief Justice asked both the officials to first bring back the money and later on the court would decide about the action to be taken against them. "Why our order was not implemented in letter and in spirit," the CJP asked. He added that he court was sending the case to NAB as well.
The court asked Azam Khan, Director Legal FIA whether the FIA had taken NAB into confidence while it carried out investigations into the NICL scam. Azam however, could not offer any plausible reply. During the hearing, Wasim Sajjad, counsel for the Chaudhry brothers, and Dr Babar Awan, counsel for Moonis Elahi, informed the court that misunderstanding between PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Zafar Qurashi would be removed amicably outside the court.
The counsel further informed the court that his clients intended to resolve the issue with Zafar Qureshi. The court then asked Zafar Qureshi that he must not file his reply till the issue was resolved with Chaudhry brothers. Iftikhar Gillani, counsel for DG FIA Tahseen Anwar Shah sought time to file a reply.
The Chief Justice observed that the DG FIA was not abiding by the court's order. During the hearing, the court also handed over Gillani the details pertaining to non-compliance of the court's orders by the DG FIA. Gillani, however, submitted that he would not appear on behalf of DG FIA before the apex court if it was proved that his client had violated the SC orders. Attorney General for Pakistan informed the bench that he had received a copy of Moonis Elahi's acquittal order. The court adjourned the hearing till November 24.
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