ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court made known on Wednesday its intention of examining the contents and intentions of former prime minister Raja Parvez Ashraf behind writing a letter to Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry for the transfer of investigation into the rental power projects (RPP) scam from the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to a commission.

“We have to express a mild displeasure over writing the letter to the chief justice to influence the court,” the chief justice observed while heading a three-judge bench which had taken up the matter.

Raja Ashraf had requested the chief justice to transfer the investigation into the Rs22 billion RPP scam from NAB to a commission by appointing Federal Tax Ombudsman Dr Shoaib Suddle as its head.

On Jan 21, Mr Ashraf withdrew his review petition against the court’s overarching judgment in the RPP case on apprehensions that adverse observations or an explicit order could compromise the situation of the prime minister. He later wrote the letter to the chief justice.

“You consider yourself someone special since you have been the prime minister,” Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed said, adding that Raja Ashraf was now an ordinary citizen.

Advocate Wasim Sajjad, representing Raja Ashraf, argued that the investigation should be carried out by some credible and respected forum.

He recalled that his client had joined the NAB investigation and that the court itself had expressed dissatisfaction over the conduct of the bureau.

But the court clarified that it was wrong to suggest or criticise the bureau since expression of displeasure varied from case to case.

The NAB’s Prosecutor General, K.K. Agha, said it would be unfair to say that the bureau had no credibility. He said NAB would not accept the request of the former prime minister to transfer the probe because it was the only authority to investigate corruption allegations. But he said NAB would have no objection if the court decided to hand over the investigation to any other forum.

Mr Agha recalled that NAB had been criticised by the Supreme Court not because it lacked competence to investigate corruption cases but because the bureau was not quick since open-ended inquiry had to be conducted on the basis of the March 30, 2012, verdict of the apex court in the RPP scam case.

The court asked Wasim Sajjad to consult his client and suggest whether he intended to withdraw the letter or would press on the request.

REHMAN MALIK: The same bench decided to postpone till next week indictment of former interior minister Rehman Malik, who is facing contempt charges for his involvement in an inquiry into the Steel Mills corruption case.

Advocate Sardar Mohammad Khosa, representing Mr Malik, informed the court that his client had filed an intra-court appeal challenging the March 18 verdict of framing the contempt charges against him.

The court ordered its office to fix the appeal before a five-judge larger bench on Friday. Murderer executed