ISLAMABAD, Nov 13: Complying with the fifth order of the Dr Shoaib Suddle Commission, real estate tycoon Malik Riaz appeared before it on Tuesday, but refused to accept any commission as legitimate, because no such commission would “provide me justice in the Arsalan Iftikhar graft case”.

On one hand Malik Riaz rejected the Suddle Commission, but on the other he submitted a written statement suggesting that a statement filed by him earlier in the Supreme Court could be used by it for investigation, the registrar of the commission said.

Malik Riaz has claimed to have paid Arsalan Iftikhar, son of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Rs342 million to get settled his pending cases in the Supreme Court.

“The one-man inquiry commission appointed by the Supreme Court for conducting a fact-finding inquiry into the allegations levelled by Malik Riaz against Arsalan Iftikhar has been issuing repeated notices to Malik Riaz to submit his concise statement along with supporting evidence. Instead of doing the needful, he has continued to persist with his stance that as the matter challenging the power of the Supreme Court to constitute such a commission was pending in the apex court, he did not wish to appear before the commission in the meantime.

However, in response to the fifth notice asking him to appear before the court on Nov 13, Malik Riaz appeared before the commission on Tuesday,” the registrar said.

He said Malik Riaz was accompanied by his counsel Zahid Hussain Bokhari, former deputy speaker Muhammad Nawaz Khokhar, his security officer Col (retd) Khalilur Rehman and Bahria Town’s lands director Chaudhry Amjad.

Zahid Bokhari contended that since the constitution of the commission was under challenge in the Supreme Court, his client was not ready to cooperate with it.

“According to Zahid Hussain Bokhari, while the commission’s functioning was fully lawful between Aug 30 and Oct 5, it was not so between Oct 6 and Nov 5, when the Supreme Court had not expressly extended its term. However, he accepted that the commission’s proceedings were lawful with effect from Nov 6 , after the apex court had issued an order in this regard,” the registrar said.

The commission conveyed to Malik Riaz that as he was a complainant in the case, the onus was on him to assist it in arriving at a fair and just conclusion in the inquiry.

“In any case, his request to restrain the commission was not acceded to by the apex court. As there was no restraining order from the apex court and the time limit for the commission to complete the inquiry had been extended up to Dec 6, it was only lawful for the commission to continue with its proceedings.”

Talking to reporters outside Dr Suddle’s office, Malik Riaz said he did not expect justice from the commission.

In reply to a question, he said the commission had not asked him to submit his passport. “I would have submitted my passport if the commission had asked me to do so,” he said.

Malik Riaz said if former generals could be investigated by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and the FIA, why his case had been referred to the commission.

He alleged that Arsalan Iftikhar was acting like a ‘don’ and trying to influence the commission. He also alleged that Shoaib Suddle was being given extension in service as the Federal Tax Ombudsman under a ‘deal’.

Malik Riaz’s lawyer said the commission’s tenure had ended on Oct 5 and it had no legal status any longer.