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ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court was informed on Thursday that four former members of the Bank of Punjab`s board of directors, representing various industrial groups, had misused their authority to obtain hefty loans of Rs20 billion in violation of rules.
The revelation was made by BoP`s counsel Khwaja Haris before a three-judge bench hearing a case relating to grant of Rs9 billion loan to Haris Steel Mills. The bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, comprises Justice Tariq Pervaiz and Justice Amir Hani Muslim.
Citing a report of the inquiry commission headed by additional IG of Punjab police Aftab Sultan, the counsel said the directors who had obtained the huge loans in violation of the rules were Gohar Ijaz, Farid Mughees, Farrukh Iftikhar and Mian Latif. Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq, who was to give his opinion on the issue, sought time to get instructions and examine legal position.
The court observed that involvement of the four directors could be determined only after providing them with an opportunity of presenting their points of view as they could agree to rectify their faults by returning the money. The chief justice said the directors had misused their authority and indulged in corrupt practices. The court issued notices to the four former directors to appear before it at next hearing on June 15 to explain their position.
The court sought legal opinion from the attorney general over the statement Punjab Governor Sardar Latif Khosa accusing former chief justice Abdul Hameed Dogar of giving relief to Sheikh Afzal, the main accused in the Haris Steel Mills loan scam.
The counsel for BoP presented the statement of the Punjab governor recorded on April 9 and 14 by the probe team headed by Aftab Sultan. The governor was asked by the team why did he not oppose the case in the apex court when he was attorney general.
Khwaja Harris read out the statement of the governor denying the charge of getting Rs1.5 million bribe from Sheikh Afzal. “This is absolutely untrue. I did not have anything to do with Sheikh Afzal`s matter, except for one occasion when I appeared in the SC as AGP in connection with a transfer application filed by Sheikh Afzal. I opposed his application. I don`t know who is claiming to have given me the money. I never met Irfan Ali. I categorically deny the allegation that I received money from Sheikh Afzal or anybody acting on his behalf,” the governor said in the statement.
The governor was asked by the probe team why did the apex court`s record show he supported the plea for transfer of the case.
Mr Khosa replied: “I have been misquoted deliberately by then chief justice Abdul Hameed Dogar. He was perhaps in league with the petitioner and he wanted to give relief to him. Had I formally protested over the chief justice misquoting me, it would have annihilated the judicial system. I did not want to bring it on record that the chief justice deliberately misquoted the AGP; it would have been a huge embarrassment and derogatory to the entire judiciary.”
The chief justice said the accusations were of serious nature and directed Maulvi Anwarul Haq to give his opinion after consulting the high-ups on the immunity issue. The court was informed that accountability courts, where the references had been filed, made no progress. The cases are being lingered on one or the other reason. The chief justice asked the attorney general to inform the court about the number of accountability courts operating in Punjab and the ones where there was no presiding officer so that the apex court could issue appropriate order and fix the matter in an accountability court with directives to conduct the hearing on a daily basis.
