News
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Joint Investigation Team to probe Arsalan Iftikhar case* Team will comprise officers of NAB, FIA and police
* AG asks NAB chief to submit progress report fortnightly
Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Admiral (r) Fasih Bokhari on Wednesday decided to constitute a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) comprising officers of NAB, FIA, police and experts from banking and legal sectors to investigate the Arsalan Iftikhar case.
A NAB statement said the authority had received a letter from the office of attorney general (AG) of Pakistan with the request to form JIT to probe the case. On June 14, the Supreme Court directed the federal government to take necessary action against the chief justice’s son, Arsalan Iftikhar, and real estate tycoon Malik Riaz and his son in law.
The AG has asked the NAB chief to submit a report fortnightly to him about investigation into the scandal.
In view of the court’s June 14 order regarding allegations of a business deal between Malik Riaz and Arsalan Iftikhar, the AG had written a letter to the NAB chairman for implementation of the SC order under section 9A of the National Accountability Bureau Ordinance 2000. The AG also said that JIT should be consisting of honest officials of NAB, the Federal Investigating Agency (FIA) and Islamabad Police. On June 15, the AG office issued a statement, saying that in view of the expectations expressed by the Supreme Court in its judgement on June 14, the AG would soon undertake accomplishment of the desired task.
Irfan Qadir had said that he would also hold meetings with the NAB chairman, law secretary, interior secretary, FIA director general and Islamabad Police inspector general to ensure transparent accountability “for determination of commission of acts (if any) of corruption or corrupt practices committed by Malik Riaz Hussain and family, Dr Arsalan Iftikhar and family and Salman Ali Khan”. “The purpose of these deliberations is to explore the possibility of constituting a broad based investigation team so as to rule out the possibility of any influence on either side thereby securing the ends of justice,” the AG had said.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk