NAB chief shows mistrust on CJP Iftikhar
17 February, 2013
ISLAMABAD: National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Admiral (r) Fasih Bokhari, in an application for transfer of his contempt case to another bench, has expressed his mistrust of Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, saying that he (the NAB chairman) did not fulfil the chief justice's desire in 2012 by not appointing a lawyer in the legal branch of the NAB. The NAB chairman, on Saturday, filed an application for placement of his contempt case before another bench of the apex court. The Supreme Court's registrar office has, however, refused to entertain the plea, saying it contained contemptuous language. It must be noted that a three-member bench headed by the chief justice himself on January 31 had issued a contempt notice to the NAB chairman for writing a letter to President Ali Zardari, in which he complained that the court was unnecessarily pressurising the NAB officials in investigations related to high profile matters, especially the rental power projects case. Moving a miscellaneous application through his counsel, Navid Rasul Mirza, the NAB chairman contended that the chief justice might not like to be on the bench which is hearing his contempt case because sometime in the middle of 2012, he was informed by Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan that the chief justice wished to have a certain Advocate Raja Amir Abbas appointed in the legal branch of the National Accountability Bureau. "The respondent (chairman NAB) was not able to accommodate this wish because of adverse opinion on record in the Bureau against Raja Amir Abbas. The respondent believes that his inability to accede to the hon'ble chief justice's desire has irked the hon'ble chief justice giving rise to a distinctive predisposition against the respondent," the application states. It also states that in the matter between Arsalan Iftikhar, a son of the chief justice, and Malik Riaz Hussain of Bahira Town, Arsalan was harshly and unrelentingly critical of the respondent. The NAB chairman asserts that Arsalan's relationship with the chief justice raises a very reasonable and strong apprehension in his mind that the "opinion, rancour and the hostility carried by the son (Arsalan Iftikhar) against him would go to influence his father's mind (CJP) against him". He said that the bench stands biased and predisposed towards him and he already stands condemned. End.
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