ISLAMABAD, March 20: Facing a charge of contempt of court, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman retired Admiral Fasih Bokhari reiterated his stance on Wednesday and said Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry was “not favourably disposed towards him”.

“The respondent [Adm Bokhari] has reasons to believe that the chief justice is not favourably disposed towards him,” argued Advocate Navid Rasul Mirza while representing the NAB chairman.

Not convinced with a series of objections raised by the counsel, however, a three-judge bench headed by the chief justice decided to indict the NAB chief on April 2 for committing contempt of court.

Adm Bokhari is facing the charge for writing a letter to the president in which he accused the superior judiciary of influencing the bureau’s ongoing investigation into the RPP (rental power projects) scam.

This was not the first time that the NAB chairman had criticised the judiciary. Earlier in an application, which the court office had refused to entertain for being scandalous, Adm Bokhari had accused the bench of being biased and predisposed towards him. He had said that he already stood condemned.

On Wednesday, Advocate Mirza came up with a three-limbed argument. He first requested that the bench be changed as it was predisposed against Adm Bokhari because a wish forwarded through Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan in mid-2012 to appoint Advocate Raja Amir Abbas as a member of NAB’s legal branch could not be accommodated.

The counsel then argued that the chief justice might like to withdraw himself from the bench. But the chief justice told him that it was his duty to hear all high-profile cases.

“We have relations with none,” the chief justice observed, reminding the counsel to always endeavour for saving the institution instead of maligning it.

Advocate Mirza then fired the last salvo by recalling that in a dispute between Dr Arsalan Iftikhar (son of the chief justice) and property tycoon Malik Riaz, the NAB chairman had been unrelentingly attacked by Dr Arsalan who had alleged that Adm Bokhari was “a person of suspect past”.

Therefore, he suggested, the chief justice should not hear the matter. But the chief justice observed that judges sat on the bench under oath to decide the cases in accordance with the law without any fear or favour.

The court said an attempt had been made by the NAB chairman to involve the entire institution of judiciary, adding that the facts brought before the court constituted both judicial and criminal contempt against him.

When Advocate Mirza said his client had been appearing in person in all the hearings, the chief justice reminded him that former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had never objected to coming to the court. Even incumbent Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf had sent a letter to the court to appoint a commission in the RPP case by expressing confidence in the court. “See the level of confidence (in the court,” said the chief justice.

“It depends on the personalities,” the counsel retorted and said the expression “substantial detrimental” used in the Jan 31 order against his client led him to conclude that the court was predisposed against him.

Reading out the reply submitted by the NAB chairman, Advocate Mirza said the bureau’s media wing had released the contents of the letter sent to the president only after reports on it had been telecast by Zee TV and then by a local television network and reporters had been asking for its copies.

The court recalled that only because of the letter a two-judge commission had been appointed on a reference sent by the president though a notification to the effect had been withdrawn later. “You should have protected the letter,” it said.

Senior Joint Secretary of Law Department Sohail Qadeer Siddiqui informed the court that the commission had been constituted on a letter received from the presidency.

The court ordered its office to keep the record in a sealed envelope.