Just how many lawyers were ‘friends’ of Dogar Court?Top legal guns accused of bilking Harris Steel

By Umar Cheema

ISLAMABAD: Former attorney general Latif Khosa is facing an allegation of having received a bribe for securing a friendly judgment from the former Dogar supreme court. Well, it transpires that he may soon have some august company as three other high profile lawyers, including an influential member of the ruling dispensation, have also been accused of a somewhat similar action by a business tycoon.

Sheikh Munir, a director of Haris Steel Industries, implicated in the Punjab Bank scandal, has submitted a dossier to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), exposing the names of the three legal gurus who allegedly robbed him blind, promising him a bailout through ‘friendly judges’ in the Abdul Hameed Dogar Supreme Court.

Although he invested heavily on more than three lawyers, those allegedly lined up with pledges to pursue his petition through the agency of friendly judges include a sitting minister, the legal guru of all dictators, Syed Sharifuddin Pirzada, and former attorney general Justice (retd) Malik Qayyum.

“Pirzada assured us that he would win the case in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) due to his relations with Justice Sardar Aslam (the then Chief Justice of the IHC). The litigant paid a whopping Rs 40 million for the case and seeking a favourable decision. This chunk of money is apart from the dues claimed for various other applications filed,” Sheikh Munir’s statement said. But as the case was transferred to the Supreme Court, “Pirzada left us”.

Haris Steel Industries paid to the sitting minister (who is not being named because he has not yet given his side of the story to The News) equivalent to the sum handed to Pirzada, i.e. Rs 40 million. The reason for betting on this minister was his claim that “all the judges in the Supreme Court are known to me and, therefore, I can get a favourable decision.”

The fee paid to Malik Qayyum has not been mentioned by Munir because he does not “know the exact figure as this amount was paid by his brother Irfan Ali. But the director Haris Steel Industries said in his statement that Qayyum also echoed the line of the minister that he was known to the Supreme Court judges and could get the verdict he wished.

But the minister and Qayyum allegedly disappeared after accepting their ‘fees’, Munir said in his statement. “When the minister took his oath he left us. Malik Qayyum left us due to retirement of Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar.”

Talking to The News, Justice Qayyum denied having served as a counsel of the Harris Steel Industries, let alone receiving any fee and making any promises to get a favourable judgment. When approached Syed Sharifuddin Pirzada denied receiving such a big amount. About the allegation of jacking up his fees claiming his relations with judges, Pirzada said he never said so. “I don’t care for winning or losing. You know I have 50-year practice. I have never talked to any client about anything.”

When contacted by The News, the minister declined to comment till he had first read the document allegedly implicating him in the case. As the portion relating to his conduct was read out to him, he again refused to comment unless he had first personally read the contents of the letter sent to the NAB.

Other lawyers who were hired by Haris Steel were Waseem Sajjad and Irfan Qadir, who were reportedly paid Rs20 million each. Munir’s statement however does not carry any allegation of wrong doing against this duo.