ISLAMABAD, April 9: The Supreme Court directed the Ministry of Law and Justice on Tuesday to justify the immunity it had granted to former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in the Haj corruption case.

During the hearing of case, Federal Investigation Agency’s investigation officer Hussain Asghar informed a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry that probe into the appointments of a key accused, Rao Shakeel Ahmed, as director general Haj and Zain Iftikhar Sukhera as consultant in the Ministry of Information Technology had been stuck because of a letter written by the law ministry on March 1.

He said Mr Gilani had made the two appointments, but the law ministry in the letter said that under section 1 of article 248 of the constitution, the prime minister “shall not be answerable to any court for the exercise of powers and performance of functions of their respective offices for any act done or purported to be done in the exercise of those powers”.

Mr Asghar said former establishment secretary Ismail Qureshi had been summoned by the FIA but he managed to obtain a protective bail from the Lahore High Court till April 6, and before its expiry he left the country.

He informed the bench that Ahmed Faiz, a building supervisor of the Ministry of Religious Affairs, had been declared an absconder and the Ministry of Interior had issued red warrants for his arrest.

When Mr Asghar said that Ahmad Faiz, the frontman in the case, was living in Saudi Arabia, the court asked the interior ministry to take up the matter with the Saudi authorities for his extradition.

The court observed that Mr Gilani’s immunity had ended the day he relinquished the charge as premier.

About the immunity the law ministry had claimed for Mr Gilani in its March 1 letter, the court asked the ministry to “justify the stance in the letter and also indicate … [whether] the letter was issued by the order of the federal government or it was a step of the law secretary”.

The court issued notice to the attorney general and asked Mr Gilani to either appear in person or engage a lawyer to represent him. The hearing was adjourned for two weeks.