ISLAMABAD: During the hearing of the show-cause notice against him on Wednesday, property tycoon Malik Riaz submitted his reply in the Supreme Court, tendering an unconditional apology, DawnNews reported.

A three-member bench of the apex court comprising Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan, Justice Ejaz Afzal and Justice Athar Saeed was hearing the case.

The show-cause notice was issued on June 13 to Riaz for hurling allegations at Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry at his press conference of June 12.

In his reply to the court, Riaz offered an unconditional apology and said he was sorry if his press conference had led to the obstruction of justice.

Moreover, the real estate tycoon submitted a separate request in the court for the summoning of Arsalan Iftikhar, son of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.

Riaz said his press conference was not targeted at the chief justice, adding that his meetings with Justice Iftikhar had been held with consent from the latter.

He said he had no choice but to hold the briefing, adding that the aim of the press conference was “to expose Arsalan” and not to tarnish the image of the chief justice.

The show-cause notice

The notice was issued under Article 204 of the Constitution (contempt of court) read with Section 3 and 17 of the Contempt of Court Ordinance of 2003, Supreme Court Rules 1980 and all other enabling provisions in the law.

Section 3 of the contempt law mainly deals with the definition of the contempt case while Section 17 is about the procedures suggesting how to move with such matters.

The court notice was taken on a note put up by Supreme Court Registrar Dr Faqir Hussain annexing Urdu transcript of whatever Riaz had said at his news conference.