Supreme Court resumes NICL case proceedings today

ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court of Pakistan will resume the proceedings of NICL corruption and Balochistan law & order cases today (Monday), Geo News reported.

Earlier during Thursday’s hearing of NICL case, Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry had said Commerce Secretary Zafar Mahmood should appear before the court during the next hearing and if he failed to appear before the court, his arrest orders would be issued.

Highlights of Thursday's NICL hearing:

A three-member bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, expressed displeasure over the absence of Commerce Secretary Zafar Mahmood from the NICL case hearing.

The Chief Justice said a case could be registered against Makhdoom Amin Fahim pertaining to ineligible appointment of Chairman Ayaz Niazi in the National Insurance Corporation Ltd (NICL) case. The SC ordered to make public the investigation report of Justice Rabbani Commission in the NICL scandal.

The SC also asked the FIA about the actions taken against Amin Fahim over the illegal appointment of Ayaz Niazi as chairman of the NICL. The court inquired as to why an appeal was not filed against the acquittal of Moonis Elahi, the main accused in the NICL scandal.

The SC questioned why an investigation was not being conducted over the money kept in foreign banks and why that money had not been brought back to the country.

FIA Director Muazzam Jah told the SC that Zafar Saleem, who sold property for paying loans of Amin Fahim, died in the AirBlue plane crash in 2010. He said Rs900 million cost of the NICL land was much less than its worth and that money was deposited in joint account of Kh Akbar and Khalid Anwar.

He stated Khalid Anwar used to be the frontman of late Zafar Saleem, and then that money was deposited into 16 various accounts, including the account of Amin Fahim.

During the hearing, the Chief Justice said Ayaz Niazi was illegally appointed as the chairman of the NICL and that Amin Fahim was alleged to have been behind the decision. The Chief Justice said that Zafar Mahmood should have registered a case over the illegal appointment. Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja remarked that if this example was set, then every guilty person would say that he was innocent.

The chairman of Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) appeared before the court and presented procedures of appointment of the chairman. Later, the case hearing was adjourned till June 11.