ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Friday wrapped up petitions on a video leak controversy, involving former accountability judge Arshad Malik, and issued a detailed verdict elaborating the top court’s take on the matter which rocked the domestic political landscape upon its inception a month ago.
A three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, heard the petitions. Filed by Ishtiaq Ahmed Mirza, Sohail Akhtar and Tariq Asad, the petition had sought directives from the apex court for the constitution of a probe committee or a judicial commission to look into the matter.
The detailed verdict, authored by Chief Justice Khosa, noted that five main issues needed to be attended by the Supreme Court including the possible impact of the video, if proven to be authentic, on the Dec 24 verdict by judge Malik in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills corruption reference in which the ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif was handed a seven years jail term.
As the top court reviewed a report, which was furnished by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) after thoroughly probing the alleged videos, it observed that “the relevant video cannot be of any legal benefit to Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif unless it is properly produced before the Islamabad High Court, Islamabad in the pending appeal, its genuineness is established and then the same is proved in accordance with the law for it to be treated as evidence in the case.”
“We find that it may not be an appropriate stage for this court to interfere in the matter of the relevant video and its effects since the video may have relevance to a criminal appeal presently sub judice before the Islamabad High Court,” the judges said in the verdict.
During the hearings, the apex court bench had noted that four more issues needed to be addressed;
- How is the relevant video to be established as a genuine piece of evidence?
- How is the relevant video, if established to be a genuine piece of evidence, to be proved before a court of law?
- What is the effect of the relevant video, if established to be a genuine piece of evidence and if duly proved before the relevant court, upon the conviction of Nawaz Sharif?
- The conduct of the judge Muhammad Arshad Malik in the episode.
VIDEOGATE SAGA
In an explosive presser on July 7, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz, claimed the accountability judge, Arshad Malik, hearing her father Nawaz Sharif’s trial was coerced to give judgment against the former prime minister while presenting an alleged video of the judge as evidence.
However, Judge Malik denied the allegations and submitted a shocking affidavit claiming that the PML-N representatives had offered him hefty bribes in exchange for a favorable verdict in the corruption references.
He wrote in the affidavit that while he was in Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah with his family, he was approached by Hussain Nawaz, the son of the former premier, through Nasir Butt. Upon meeting Malik, Hussain told him that he would be given “Rs500 million and would be relocated in UK, Canada or any other country with jobs for my children and profitable business” if he resigned and admitted to “guilt of convicting Nawaz under pressure”.
IHC REPATRIATES JUDGE MALIK TO LHC
Meanwhile, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday repatriated the former accountability court judge to the Lahore High Court (LHC) to face disciplinary proceedings over his confessions which it said amounted to ‘misconduct’.
In a notification, the court said that the judge’s confessions in his press statement and affidavit on July 7 and July 11 respectively amount to “misconduct and violation of the code of conduct, which warrant imitation of disciplinary proceedings against him”. For this reason, the chief justice of IHC, suspended and repatriated the former accountability court judge with immediate effect so that he can face disciplinary proceedings.
Two days earlier, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Asif Saeed Khosa had asked why the federal government had not repatriated him to face disciplinary proceedings. He said that the judge’s conduct had caused all honest, hard-working and dedicated judges to bow their heads in shame.
He further asked if the government was protecting the judge by keeping his services with them, adding that the whole situation was dangerous as a judge was vulnerable to exploitation by a third party because of secrets he was guarding. Over this, Attorney General Anwar Mansoor had told the chief justice that Judge Malik would be repatriated.
Last month, the apex court took up the case on a petition submitted by a citizen named Ishtiaq Ahmed, who appealed the court for an independent judicial inquiry of the video scandal.
On July 12, judge Arshad Malik was relieved from his duties by the federal government for his alleged involvement in the controversial video scandal.
During the last proceedings, Chief Justice Khosa remarked that three weeks were given to complete the investigation and the report was regarding two videos – one which was used to blackmail the judge and the other which was shown in the press conference.
The chief justice inquired whether a petition had been filed in court to obtain any legal benefit, to which the attorney general said no petition had been filed.
The top judge remarked that the video would be of use for the release of incarcerated former premier Nawaz Sharif when a petition is filed. He added that it remained to be seen if a forensic audit could be carried out on a copy of the video and if this was possible for a YouTube video.
