Money spoke in Abdul Hameed Dogar’s court

By Umar Cheema

ISLAMABAD: The sensational disclosure by the owner of Haris Steel Mills (HSM) about how money changed hands in the heyday of Justice Dogar, has finally resolved the riddle: why were two senior NAB officials jailed for arresting the HSM’s accountant? It was this accountant who was released by the court in 2008 and only his re-arrest a month back made it possible to reach his owners and others and expose their comrades in black coats.

Two NAB officials - Muhammad Aslam and Col (retd) Tariq Ahmad - had to face humiliation in Dogar’s day when the bar and the bench had joined hands to bail out the fat cats of the HSM.

Sharifuddin Pirzada, Dr Babar Awan and Malik Qayyum have been accused by Sheikh Afzal, HSM owner, of robbing his company by charging millions as their own fee and for judges. These lawyers pushed their friend, Justice Dogar, to punish the NAB officers for apprehending the HSM’s accountant, Irfan Ali, whose arrest warrant were issued. The court had sent the NAB officers behind bars for arresting him in the court’s cafeteria and set the accused (Irfan Ali) free.

On July 24, 2008 these two NAB officers arrested HSM’s accountant after the hearing of the case in Dogar’s court. Although they did so by making sure that no restraining order was issued regarding arrest, they were taken to task under the excuse that Irfan had been arrested in the cafeteria, which was in the court premises. As the arrest was being made, Irfan rang Dr. Babar Awan to inform him about this, Col. (retd) Tariq confirmed to The News, also disclosing that they received a call from Dubai offering them Rs200 million for setting the accountant free but they could not be lured.

As they brought him to the NAB office, they found in his pocket a handwritten paper mentioning the amount of money paid to the lawyers on that day. The name of Pirzada was on top with a sum of Rs5 million and Sajjad with Rs2 million. Another amount of Rs2 million was mentioned against “Dr. + Mitthu”. Later NAB’s investigation discovered Dr. denoted Babar Awan and Malik Qayyum nicknamed as Mitthu. The paper later was incorporated in the record submitted to the court.

But how the money spoke that day was apparent from the court’s proceedings. Pirzada, Waseem Sajjad and Babar Awan went to Justice Dogar’s chamber apprising him of the arrest of Irfan, prompting him to recall the court that was adjourned before.

NAB’s officers were summoned within two hours along with Irfan and brought straight to the of the then attorney general, Malik Qayyum, who was also furious over the arrest. “You’ll see the consequence of what you’ve done,” he said addressing the NAB officers in the presence of the accountant. As they were escorted to the Dogar’s court, Babar Awan told the bench about the maltreatment his “worthy client” faced in the premises of the court. The collaborative efforts turned out to be a nightmare for the NAB officials who were sent to Adiyala Jail for a week for “contempt of court” and Irfan was set free.

It was totally a false case as Justice Khalil-ul-Rehman Ramday, during the proceeding of the case, wondered how the cafeteria could be given the status of the court.

As things changed after the restoration of the deposed judges and Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry vigorously pursued the case, the NAB gathered courage and finally hunted down Irfan again who gave leads that made possible the arrest of big fish. Now, it was through the statement of Sheikh Afzal that the truth dawned before the court and the NAB officers were vindicated, though by default.