Where is the proof of cash payments to Arsalan. SC.

ISLAMABAD: The two-member special bench of the Supreme Court noted in its order that the documents attached with the concise statement of property magnate Malik Riaz Hussain do not account for Rs327 million (or 95.5 %) of the total money, Rs342.5 million, allegedly spent on behalf of the billionaire on Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry’s son Dr Arsalan.
No evidence whatsoever was furnished about this unaccounted for spending and its dates or location have also not been indicated in his statement, the 14-page order delivered on Thursday said, disposing of the unique suo moto notice taken by the chief justice against his own son.It said that the documents relate only to 4.5 % or Rs15.5m of the total allegedly spent money.
The order said that the total Rs342.5m spending is alleged to have been done by two distinct means: one, in the form of facilitation during ‘foreign trips’, i.e. paying for tickets, accommodation, food and entertainment; second, by way of ‘cash transfers’.
The ruling said that it is the second kind of spending i.e. cash transfers which allegedly comprise the largest chunk of the alleged bribes. So the three foreign trips in aggregate come to Rs15.5 million (Rs8.9, Rs0.7 and Rs5.9); and a staggering sum of Rs327 million is supposed to have been transferred as cash, i.e. currency notes of unspecified denomination.
It said that the documents attached to the concise statement only deal with the foreign trips component of the alleged bribes. For the alleged cash transfers, no evidence at all (not even a bare affidavit of Malik Riaz’s son-in-law Salman Ali Khan) has been provided. Even the dates of such cash transfers or their location have not been indicated.
The order noted that these transfers are alleged to have taken place in four installments. “The largest such installment is said to have been Rs157 million. By any standards, that is a lot of money for anyone to be giving or receiving in the form of hard cash. It is not impossible. But it does raise some suspicion about the veracity of the narrative which any diligent or even rudimentary inquiry should have addressed.
The fact of the matter is we have seen senior and intelligent persons buying into the claim, after seeing “evidence” which admittedly pertains to less than 5% of the alleged illegal transactions.”
The ruling said that if Malik Riaz, who is accusing Arsalan of involvement in wrongdoing, himself concedes that the Supreme Court, as an institution or its judges have never been involved in any such act, then the aspersion cast on its reputation stands cleared.
“Any doubts which may have arisen in the mind of the public can now be safely put to rest since the person who is supposed to have created these doubts with the help of certain segments of the media, has made an admission on record and cleared the situation.”
The order said that Malik Riaz, going by his own admission, does not appear to be averse to bribing or attempting to bribe high functionaries of the State or other persons he considers to be influential.
“We can only try to understand the motivation behind his strange conduct of doling out huge sums of money over a period starting from 2009 without ever getting any return for the same. A clue, however, is to be found in his concise statement wherein Malik Riaz has said that Dr Arsalan has not only cheated him and his son-in-law but has also committed fraud, extortion and other offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act and under the National Accountability Ordinance. The inference, if any, to be drawn is not in relation to the Court; it is to be drawn in relation to Malik Riaz himself.”
The ruling said that Malik Riaz has admitted in writing that the judiciary has been, and remains, ill-disposed to the grant of favours, despite his own efforts to the contrary.
“This suo moto case has presented to us, like the proverbial dark cloud, its own silver lining. Openness and transparency in the full glare of an open court hearing with equal opportunity to the two sides, is one of the defining features of our legal system. The people of Pakistan can rightfully demand such openness and transparency as their right. These hearings have given us an opportunity to demonstrate and make it absolutely clear, as we have done previously in a large number of high-profile cases, that in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, no one is above the law.
Even the highest constitutional functionaries, and their kith and kin, cannot but submit themselves and their affairs to the law. We must know that howsoever high and mighty a person may be, the law is higher and mightier.”
Then, the ruling cited a Hadith of the Holy Prophet (PBUH), which, the order said, informs or should inform the actions of the people of Pakistan. The Prophet warned: O people, those before you were ruined because when someone of high rank among them (sharif) committed theft, they would spare him, but when a weak person from amongst them (zaeef) committed theft, they would inflict the prescribed punishment upon him.” (Sahih Bukhari).
The order said the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him), in these words, warned us against the path of corruption, nepotism and favouritism, indicating that it is one which leads only to sure destruction. “This insistence upon equality before law has found its way into our Constitution, and we have repeatedly emphasized it in a number of recent judgments just as we do in rendering this judgment. We are not in any doubt the Supreme Court will never shy away from discharging its constitutional duty to uphold the principle of the rule of law without fear or favour. Other creations of the Constitution and the law be they executive agencies or courts must also show equal diligence in giving effect to the rule of law in their respective spheres of authority.”
The order said that the bench did not want to delve deeply into the contours of various legal provisions or determine the manner of their applicability to the present facts. That is a job best left to investigating agencies and the trial court, to be decided on the basis of evidence. “All we need to do here is to highlight the underlying spirit of these laws, which, in essence, is the timeless wisdom encapsulated in the prophetic saying: The one who gives bribes as well as the one who takes bribes are doomed to hell fire. The people of Pakistan, who have chosen to be governed by a government of laws, are entitled to see a temporal manifestation of this principle.”


link: http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-2-114790-Where-is-the-proof-of-cash-payments-to-Arsalan-asks-SC-order