ISLAMABAD: While the judiciary proceeds promptly in cases against politicians, matters of public interest – such as land-grabbing cases – have continued to linger for years on technical or procedural grounds.

This week, a Rawalpindi anti-corruption court adjourned just such a matter; a seven-year-old land fraud case against property tycoon Malik Riaz, due to a stay order issued by the Supreme Court in January 2016.

It was in connection with this case that in Sept 2015, then-chief justice Jawwad S. Khawaja had ordered the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to investigate the possible role of its former chairman retired Admiral Fasih Bukhari and other officers in extending undue benefits to the property tycoon.

Accepting an appeal filed by the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE), Justice Khawaja had also ordered the special anti-corruption judge to “expeditiously” proceed with the trial of the case.

Scam involving illegal transfer of 14,000 kanals to property tycoon continues to be held up by SC stay

The ACE, which was investigating the fraudulent transfer of 1,401 kanals of land to Bahria Town in 2009, had challenged the transfer of the case to NAB. The land is situated within the revenue estate of Khanpur and Malikpur Azizal in Rawalpindi.

Initially, while ACE was investigating the matter, it submitted a challan to the special judge on Nov 1, 2011.

Subsequently, Bahria Town moved an application with then-NAB director general on Nov 21, requesting him to investigate the matter on its own and withdraw it from the anti-corruption court.

Section 16A of the National Accountability Ordinance empowers the NAB chairman to transfer any corruption case to an accountability court.

All of this happened under the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) government, which is known for its cordial relationship with the property tycoon.

Consequently on Nov 21, 2011, Fasih Bukhari asked the special judge anti-corruption to transfer the case to the administrative judge of the accountability courts in Rawalpindi.

The same day, NAB also wrote to the ACE, directing it to hand over all records of the case.

After the case was transferred to NAB, Malik Riaz and his son Ahmed Ali Riaz were exonerated.

In its judgment of September 2015, the Supreme Court ordered NAB to investigate whether Mr Bukhari and other officers had, by writing the application to the special judge, misused their position.

The judgment noted that in its letter to NAB, Bahria Town had admitted that the land was illegally transferred by property dealer Mohammad Ashfaq on fake and forged documents. But there was nothing on record to confirm this, and the unsubstantiated statement made in the application was accepted by the Mr Bukhari, who was the NAB chief at the time.

The apex court had observed that NAB should not have exonerated the accused, and observed that since these were old cases, “We expect that the special judge anti-corruption will proceed with them expeditiously”.

In compliance with the apex court’s order, the case was transferred to the anti-corruption and proceedings were commenced against the property tycoon and his son.

Justice Khawaja soon after announcing the judgment, but proceedings in the case continued. Soon afterward, Malik Riaz filed a review petition against Justice Khawaja’s order, which was heard by a three-member bench, headed by Jusice Ejaz Afzal Khan.

In Jan 2016, this bench stayed the earlier order and restrained the anti-corruption court from proceeding in the matter.

Bahria Town counsel Barrister Gohar Ali Khan claimed they had produced some “additional documents” before the bench in the review petition, on the basis of which the court changed its mind and stayed proceedings.

He said that they had produced order sheets of the high courts and the trial court during the hearing of the review petition, and that after perusing the record, the bench granted relief to Malik Riaz and his son.

In Rawalpindi, though, the anti-corruption court takes up the case once a month since the January 2015 order. However, every time, the judge puts off the hearing after the counsel for the accused persons reminds him of the stay order.

Khawaja Sohail, the district prosecutor who is pursuing the case before the anti-corruption court, said he was unable to move forward, saying it was the job of prosecutors appointed to deal with the Supreme Court’s cases.

“I remind them about this case off and on,” he said.

Probe against former NAB chief

In its Sept 26 order, the former chief justice had directed NAB to proceed against retired Admiral Fasih Bokhari for extending undue benefits to the property tycoon and his son.

ACE had been investigating the land fraud case since 2009 and in 2011, issued arrest warrants for Malik Riaz and his son. On July 30, 2012, the anti-corruption court had attached the properties of the accused.

When the case was transferred to NAB, the bureau dropped all charges against the property tycoon and his son and, subsequently, they were released in 2013.

Sources in NAB told Dawn that the inquiry was assigned to a director general who was appointed by Mr Bokhari. They said that the officer recused himself from investigating his former boss, and the case was shelved.

But the bureau did file a reference against its two former DGs, Khurshid Anwar Bhinder and retired Col Subha Sadiq, a senior NAB official said.

Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2017