Transfer of investigation officers of NICL, Haj scams

Director General, Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Malik Iqbal, was put on contempt of court notice by Supreme Court on Tuesday, for transferring two FIA officials who were investigating NICL and Haj scams, as the court termed the transfers as tantamount to interference in judicial proceedings.
A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry with Justice Muhammad Sair Ali and Justice Ghulam Rabbani while hearing a suo motu case against multi-billion National Insurance Company Limited (NICL) scam, directed DG FIA to submit his reply by May 16.
The court issued contempt notice against DG FIA under Article 204 of constitution read with Section 3 of the Contempt of the Court Ordinance 2003 for intervening in the administration of justice by approaching the government authorities for transfer of Additional Director General (ADG) Zafar Ahmed Qureshi as Director General National Police Foundation (NPF).
In its order, the bench noted that Zafar Iqbal Qureshi, who was initially acting as director FIA when the investigation into the scam commenced and had interrogated chairman NICL Ayaz Khan Niazi, recovered Rs 1.74 billion. The order said that he was abruptly posted as DG NPF when the investigation was in progress. His transfer was not warranted since the officer had recovered a huge amount of money and that arrests were still required to be made against those who have fled the country.
Citing a letter by Malik Iqbal after assuming charge as DG FIA, the bench noted that surprisingly he wrote a letter to secretary interior instead of assisting Zafar Qureshi for making progress in the case. "We could not understand when investigation was in progress and Qureshi was conducting the investigations...what prompted Malik Iqbal to send a letter to the government to transfer him," the order added.
The bench further observed that prima facie it seemed Malik Iqbal adopted a device to get Zafar Qureshi transferred, may be for reasons best known to him. Therefore, it added, we are of the opinion that DG FIA Malik Iqbal by sending the letter, in fact, created obstacle in the investigation being conducted by Qureshi on court direction.
The order further said that this was not the first time but Malik Iqbal had also repeated the same thing in another financial scam relating to the Hajj arrangements 2010 after assuming the office. Justice Sair observed that this is contempt on the face of the apex court. Justice Chaudhry reminded DG FIA: "At least for the respect and dignity of the court, you should have thought."
Malik contended that he never recommended the government to transfer Qureshi. The CJP told Malik why he wrote letter to ministry of interior on April 16, 2011 in which he explained about the latest position regarding NICL investigations suggesting the interim challan had already been submitted before the relevant courts. After which, the CJP said, Cabinet Division on April 18, 2011 issued a notification for transfer of Qureshi. The bench told S. M. Zafar, lawyer for Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, in NICL related issues that the court would hear them on May 16. "We will hear you but first let people respect court orders," it added.