ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued notices to the officials of Intelligence Bureau (IB) over alleged utilisation of its ‘secret fund’ in a bid to topple the Punjab government in the past, DawnNews reported.

A three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, was hearing a suo motu case over Rs 270 million allegedly drawn by the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) federal governments in the past from the ‘secret fund’ of IB to topple the Punjab governments.

Notices have been issued to two former director generals of the IB, Masood Sharif Khattak and Tariq Lodhi and the incumbent DG of the agency Akhtar Hussain.

During the hearing, Deputy Director Legal of the IB Naveeda Sehar submitted to the court, in a sealed envelope, the details regarding the published report in an English daily on the issue.

Reporter of the English daily, Asad Kharal, read out his report according to which Rs 270 million were withdrawn from the IB secret funds in order to overthrow the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) provincial government in Punjab during five-month tenure of former DG IB Tariq Lodhi in 2008-09.

Moreover, according to the report, some amount was also withdrawn during 1989-90 for rigging elections.

The bench subsequently summoned records and information on the Intelligence Bureau’s budget and money received during the said periods.

The chief justice remarked that if the IB had any information it could be exchanged in-camera. Justice Chaudhry also directed the spy agency to submit documents in the next hearing of the case, which was adjourned for two weeks.

In its detailed verdict of the Asghar Khan case, the apex court had ordered to de-link the case of doling out of Rs270m in 2008-09 from the accounts of Intelligence Bureau to topple the Punjab government. It issued notices to the publishers, printers and reporter of an English daily which had published the report to substantiate the allegations.