ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Tuesday reserved verdict on three identical petitions on the video scandal involving accountability court judge Arshad Malik, all seeking a directive from the apex court for the constitution of an inquiry committee or a judicial commission.
A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa heard the case during which Attorney General Anwar Mansoor Khan and FIA Director General Bashir Memon were present in the court.
On July 23, the apex court had ordered the FIA to complete its probe within three weeks.
During the proceedings today, Chief Justice Asif Khosa said that three weeks had been given to FIA to complete investigations. Discussing the interim report submitted by the FIA director general earlier, the chief justice said that it was regarding two videos — one through which the judge was blackmailed and the other which was aired at the PML-N conference.
The attorney general said that judge Malik had been posted to the accountability court on March 13, 2018. The chief justice asked if the individual who had appointed judge Malik had come forward, to which the attorney general responded that he had not. Chief Justice Khosa added that as per the interim report, Nasir Janjua, a suspect in the video leak case, had said he appointed the judge.
“This means that after the Panama Papers verdict, the government at the time had appointed judge Arshad Malik,” the chief justice said.
Judge Malik, who convicted ousted premier Nawaz Sharif in the Al Azizia case last year, has been accused by PML-N’s Maryam and other party leaders of delivering the verdict “under pressure”. Maryam also released videos purportedly proving her claims. The judge, however, denied being under any pressure, making counter allegations against Nawaz Sharif and the PML-N for “bribing, threatening” him.
Amid deepening political and judicial crises, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) after consultation with the apex court had removed the accountability court judge on July 12, following which the Law Ministry temporarily barred Arshad Malik from working. (INP)
