New dimensions surface ahead of case against Arsalan in London

LONDON: Zahid Bukhari, the counsel for property tycoon Malik Riaz, says there are “sufficient grounds” for initiating a civil and criminal litigation case in the UK courts against Arsalan Iftikhar, the son of Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.

Bukhari has held meetings with legal experts in London for a week to find ways of initiating a case in London against Arsalan.The claimant will be a petitioner from London, believed to be Malik Riaz’s son-in-law who is a businessman in London and has allegedly made payments to Arsalan while at the same time documenting the evidence.

Speaking to The News, Bukhari said Arsalan had received payments in London and every transaction had a trail which clearly shows his involvement in the “case”. Bukhari said the “cause of action” was in London because a “series of actions” took place here and “while cases will be filed in Pakistan, certain cases have relevance only to London where oral and documentary evidence was recorded which includes cash payments and facilitations on three occasions by the accused along with his family”.

He added: “I have met top legal experts and I have been advised that there are enough grounds to launch a legal lawsuit on behalf of my client who has been wronged. We have discussed the procedures to be adopted about filing the cases and rest of the issues as far as English courts are concerned. ”

Bukhari confirmed that he had met six different litigation experts who have been handed over papers pertaining to the high-profile case which shocked Pakistan when it popped on the surface in the summer last year.

An expert of the English commercial litigation law told The News that the case can be opened in London. The English court is likely to consider common law rules when determining whether it has jurisdiction to hear the case. The fact that all transactions were made in London and the money was paid here is relevant and will work in Malik Riaz’s favour but the general rule is that a defendant ought to be sued in the country in which they are domiciled.

This means Arsalan can legitimately argue that London is not the proper place (forum non conveniens) to hear the case. What is unclear, however, is exactly what the cause of action will be and whether there is any merit to the claim.

It seems highly unlikely that the English court will hear a case whereby Malik Riaz is attempting to argue that he paid money to Arsalan to ensure his father dropped legal actions against him, but it will be interesting to see what arguments Malik Riaz’s team comes up with and the grounds for the legal action they have in mind and also the fact that being mega rich, Malik Riaz can pay an outrageous amount in legal fees to some of the best legal brains in Britain.

The grounds of claim will have a central role in this case because if English law is applied to this particular case, then purely under the laws of equity, the claim may fail as the claimant is expected to come to the court with “clean hands” which may be an issue in a case such as this. Legal circles in the Pakistani community are, however, still debating the options available to both the parties.

Bukhari refused to discuss any further the details of the claim but said more will be revealed after he has heard further from lawyers in London and after having reported the crux of his discussion to Malik Riaz.

Arslan Iftikhar in several media talks had denied some of the charges and about others he said that he had already paid the amount.

Posted in: National