ISLAMABAD, Sept 5: Beginning spadework in Arsalan Iftikhar-Malik Riaz case, Federal Tax Ombudsman Dr Shoaib Suddle has held consultations with some legal experts, according to sources.

“Dr Suddle returned to the country yesterday (Tuesday) and the same day he held meetings with the experts in his office to formulate guidelines for the investigations to be completed within 30 days, as instructed by Supreme Court,” a source told Dawn on Wednesday.

During a hearing on Aug 30, the Supreme Court had expressed dissatisfaction over the investigation carried out so far by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and ordered that the task be handed over to the federal ombudsman.

However, the NAB has yet to hand over the record of the case to Dr Suddle.

When contacted, NAB spokesman Zafar Iqbal said the bureau would hand over the record to the one-man inquiry commission whenever a request was made to it. “We will hand over the record to Dr Shoaib Suddle whenever he asked us to do so,” he said.

A senior NAB official said a defunct joint investigation team (JIT) had collected considerable information based on documents obtained from different banks, the Federal Bureau of Revenue, Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority and statements of the accused in the case.

The banks sent details of Arsalan Iftikhar’s accounts to NAB because the JIT had sought details of his accounts through the State Bank.

According to the sources, the bank records revealed that Arsalan Iftikhar had used official address of chief justice of the Supreme Court in Islamabad for commercial purposes.

Some NAB officials believe that the one-man commission will not be able to complete the probe within the stipulated period of 30 days and that Dr Suddle would require the help of NAB and other departments.