ISLAMABAD - The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed Rehman Malik to submit a written statement for changing investigation team in Pakistan Steel Mills corruption case in 2009.

A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry was hearing the suo moto case for initiating contempt of court proceedings against the adviser to the prime minister on interior affairs for replacing the investigation team probing the PSM corruption case in 2009.
During the hearing, Malik appeared before the bench. The chief justice asked him why he had replaced the Federal Investigative Agency (FIA) team, headed by Tariq Khosa, constituted on the court order.
The chief justice observed that changing the FIA team was an intrusion in court’s work as Tariq Khosa was removed from the team causing much damage to the inquiry. Malik claimed that the team was dissolved on the directives of the court.
During proceedings of the case, Malik said Justice Javed Iqbal exempted him from attending the hearing. However, the chief justice said that no such order was mentioned in the case file.
Malik requested the court that he wanted to submit a written reply regarding the matter. The court asked him to furnish the reply to the SC registrar office.
The hearing of the case was adjourned until July 23.
The apex court in its judgment on Pakistan Steel Mills, announced on May 16, had noted that  former interior minister Rehman Malik interfered in the case and transferred former FIA DG Tariq Khosa in December 2009. The court had issued him another notice. The bench had earlier rejected Malik’s reply on the show cause and had decided to frame the charge against him.
FIA chief Tariq Khosa was investigating the corruption in Steel Mills. The team members were making progress in the probe when investigation officer (Tariq Khosa) was transferred. The investigations continued regardless. The FIA instead of nabbing the real culprits protected them.