by 
Chief Justice Iftikhar Chowdhery’s son Arsalan Iftikhar’s corruption of at least PKRS 400 million has come to fore. If you all remember then he is the same Dr. Arsalan who was first caught during General Pervaiz Musharaf’s regime by journalist Ansar Abbasi for misusing his father’s position to get posting in police as an ASP and Assistant Director in Federal Investigation Agency. Mr Abbasi preferred to ‘pardon’ him once the free judiciary movement kicked off after the sacking of Justice Chowdhery by General Musharraf.
Now, Dr. Arsalan Iftikhar, a police – cum – realtor, is again in the limelight not for any different reasons. He has reportedly made millions of rupees during the last couple of years, exploiting fully his father’s position. He also got millions of investment in his ‘mysterious businesses from real estate tycoon, Malik Riaz. He even received millions from different parties on the promise of getting them favourable judgment from his father’s Supreme Court. So much so his several foreign trips had been sponsored by the interested parties as well as Malik Riaz. Now, these parties including Malik Riaz had presented the proof of Dr. Arsalan’s illegal wealth he made in the last two years to the government. There are reports that some personalities in judiciary and media are persuading Chief Justice Chowdhery Iftikhar to announce ‘disowning’ of his son and save his reputation otherwise the nation will not forgive him.
With time, more sensational stories of Dr Arsalan, son of Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Chowdhery, were being unfolded. His marriage functions lasted for 10 days in Lahore several months ago where he showed off his financial position. A participant of the wedding function revealed to a local daily that the participants were taken by surprise the lavish spending on the function. Where everyone at the helm of affairs be it Gilani or Shahbaz Sharif stressing for one – dish in marriage functions, the CJ’s son’s party was blessed with all kind of dishes. “If the CJ was unaware about the financial position of his son by then his wedding function was enough to guess that Mr Arsalan had become a filthy rich,” he said. The participant’s claim can be verified from any other participant of Arsalan’s marriage or his relative or the worthy judges who had spared special time for the function. Is CJ Chowdhery so simple that he needed to take the oath to prove that he was unaware of his son’s financial position? As it is said every father must know about his children the CJ at least knows now.
Now the big question imposed was that whether Iftikhar Chaudhry would be ordering an ‘independent’ investigation into the case of his own son like that of Moonis Elahi and Ali Moosa? Leave alone the question of independent scrutiny here after allegedly making and receiving multi-millions from property tycoon Malik Riaz, Arsalan, son of Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Chowdhery, is now threatening National Accountability Bureau by misusing again his father’s authority. Ironically his father, the CJ, is keeping a mum over his son’s daring acts by misusing his name, creating doubts whether the CJ really does not know about the activities of his son or he is part of it. In the latest move, Arsalan wrote a letter to the NAB chief threatening him not to appoint ‘particular’ persons to investigate his alleged corruption.
As of today again the Arsalan Iftikhar scandal burst at the centre stage when shenanigans on the part of the scions of those in power were already rocking the country. Moonis Elahi’s name was associated with the NICL scam and Moosa Gilani was under investigation in Ephedrine case. Dost Mohamad Khosa was implicated in the Sapna murder case. The Supreme Court had endeavoured to ensure that there was no interference from the government in the investigation of the two former cases. At times, the SC interfered to stop the transfers of investigating officers to ensure that there was no meddling in the enquiry. The Arsalan Iftkhar case caused a shock because highly serious accusations of financial nature were levelled against the son of the Chief Justice who commanded immense respect and was known to be a man of integrity. Many commiserated with him while all had the confidence that with Chowdhery Iftikhar as CJ, a thoroughly honest enquiry without delay was ensured.
A Supreme Court bench ordered the Attorney General to set the machinery of state in motion to look into the alleged dealings of Arsalan with Malik Riaz on June 14. The enquiry, however, could not be initiated for two months on account of Arsalan’s lawyer showing no trust in the Joint Investigation Team set up by NAB. It was maintained that NAB chairman’s daughter was working in a Bahria Town project while the police officers in the JIT were under the influence of Malik Riaz. Meanwhile, addressing a meeting of editors and bureau chiefs of the print and electronic media, the NAB chairman maintained that the legal notice sent by Arsalan Iftikhar was tantamount to contempt of court. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court bench constituted a one-man enquiry commission comprising former police officer and current federal tax ombudsman Shoaib Suddle. Malik Riaz’s counsel, however, maintained that the decision had allowed Arsalan to dodge the investigation.
The delay combined with claims and counterclaims is bound to frustrate many who are not trained in legal matters and who had hoped for quick disposal of the matter in a transparent manner. Meanwhile, charges have been levelled regarding Arsalan using the CJ House as his business office. It has also been alleged that he used the address of the place for his banking transactions. Serious allegations continue to be levelled against the CJ on the electronic media. Hopefully, these are all baseless. What has troubled many is that the SC is not charging the man with contempt. There is not only a need to hold an honest enquiry into the Arsalan case but also to call the person who continues to accuse the CJ in the court.
The delay combined with claims and counterclaims is bound to frustrate many who are not trained in legal matters and who had hoped for quick disposal of the matter in a transparent manner. Meanwhile, charges have been levelled regarding Arsalan using the CJ House as his business office. It has also been alleged that he used the address of the place for his banking transactions. Serious allegations continue to be levelled against the CJ on the electronic media. Hopefully, these are all baseless. What has troubled many is that the SC is not charging the man with contempt. There is not only a need to hold an honest enquiry into the Arsalan case but also to call the person who continues to accuse the CJ in the court.
However, I would really appreciate if somebody just explains everybody here reading this blog that how can the investigation be fair when every time a question is raised in one or other way on investigation teams or even to an organization involved, what does it take for a fair and transparent investigation?