Islamabad (Staff Report): Family of the late Asghar Khan on Thursday rejected the Federal Investigation Agency's (FIA) recommendations, requesting the Supreme Court not to close the case.
In their joint reply to a notice in connection with the implementation of the landmark 2012 verdict in the Asghar Khan case, Khan's legal heirs requested that an inquiry in accordance with the SC's six-year-old order be continued.
On Monday, the top court issued notices to the legal heirs of Asghar Khan.
A two-member bench headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar resumed hearing the case earlier today regarding non-implementation of its October 19, 2012 judgment.
On Saturday, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) recommended the top court to close the case filed by the late air chief marshal Asghar Khan.
The FIA, in its report submitted in the SC, stated that the case is more than 25 years old and therefore relevant banks do not have the details of deposits made at the time. The report added that there are contradictions in the statements of the witnesses.
The report further says that the statements of important witnesses in the case contradict each other, whereas the politicians accused of receiving money have also denied the allegations.
On Friday, the top court announced that it will hear the case on December 31.
The Supreme Court had issued a 141-page verdict on October 19, 2012, ordering legal proceedings against Gen (retd) Aslam Beg and Lt Gen (retd) Asad Durrani in a case filed 16 years ago by former air chief Air Marshal Asghar Khan.
Asghar Khan, who passed away in January this year, was represented in the SC by renowned lawyer Salman Akram Raja.
Khan had petitioned the Supreme Court in 1996 alleging that the two senior army officers and the then-president Ghulam Ishaq Khan had doled out Rs140 million among several politicians ahead of the 1990 polls to ensure Benazir Bhutto's defeat in the polls.
The Islamic Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI), consisting of nine parties including the Pakistan Muslim League, National Peoples Party and Jamaat-e-Islami, had won the 1990 elections, with Nawaz Sharif being elected prime minister. The alliance had been formed to oppose the Benazir Bhutto-led Pakistan Peoples Party.
In 1996, Khan had written a letter to the then Supreme Court Chief Justice Nasim Hassan Shah naming Beg, Durrani and Younis Habib, the ex-Habib Bank Sindh chief and owner of Mehran Bank, about the unlawful disbursement of public money and its misuse for political purposes.
The 2012 apex court judgment, authored by the then-Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Chaudhry, had directed the Federal Investigation Agency to initiate a transparent investigation and subsequent trial if sufficient evidence is found against the former army officers.
On May 7 this year, Supreme Court of Pakistan had rejected review petitions filed by former army chief Gen Mirza Aslam Beg and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) former chief Gen Asad Durrani against its 2012 verdict in Asghar Khan case , saying both officers would face consequences of their illegal acts.
The SC ruling also has implications for former PM Nawaz Sharif, who had also been accused of receiving money ahead of the 1990 general election. The court also sought a reply from the federal government regarding executing the verdict.