Supreme Court of Pakistan. — Photo by AFP

ISLAMABAD: During Wednesday’s hearing of Asghar Khan’s petition, the Supreme Court rejected the interior ministry's report on the 1990s financial scams of the Habib Bank Limited and the now defunct Mehran Bank Limited, DawnNews reported.

A three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, Justice Khilji Arif Hussain and Justice Tariq Parvez heard the case.

The petition was filed in 1996 by Tehrik-i-Istiqlal chief Asghar Khan requesting the apex court to look into allegations that the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) had provided money to a large number of politicians before the 1990 elections by dishing out Rs140 million to create the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad and stop Benazir Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) from winning the election.

During today’s hearing, the bench was of the opinion that the report submitted by the interior ministry was based on the recollections of Rehman Malik and therefore was not acceptable.

The report quoted Malik as saying that he had been delegated the responsibility to investigate the issue by Naseerullah Babar but that reports of those investigations were no longer available.

Earlier on Monday, the Supreme Court was informed again that the inquiry reports by two commissions believed to be insightful and revealing about the financial scams were still missing.

The commissions were set up to investigate the scams in pursuance of notifications issued on June 17, 1994, and January 11, 1996.

Also during today’s hearing, Attorney General Irfan Qadir told the bench that the interior and law ministries had been requested to prepare reports on the issue and that those reports would soon be presented before the court.

Moreover, the National Accountability Bureau's deputy prosecutor told the court that evidence was being collected against Younus Habib, the then head of Mehran Bank.

The hearing was subsequently adjourned to May 10.