Judicial commission set up to probe into Media Gate scandal – “Will notorious anchors patronised by underworld be punished?”

By Iram Salim

Lahore, June 15 (http://www.pakdestiny.com)
Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry has finally taken suo motu into the scandal of 19 media ‘saints’ who have allegedly received huge financial benefits from property tycoon Malik Riaz and set up two-member judicial commission in this regard.
On what he called a ‘whispering’ campaign on which he took suo motu against his son Arsalan Iftikhar and constituted a bench to hear his case now he seems to be compelled to take notice of the Media Gate after the leak of the list by Riaz
Arsalan is accused of receiving Rs340 million from Riaz. He had promised Riaz that he would ensure favorable verdict in a number of Bahria Town cases from his father (CJ).
The Mediagate is a revelation about those journalists who have received only from one business man, Malik Riaz. Not to talk about the political parties and others who have been greasing their palms since long to achieve their vested interest.
“CJ Iftikhar and his apex court will have to take this Mediagate scandal to a logical end. Unlike other gates (scandals) this is very important for the Supreme Court to expose tainted-anchors and journalists and also send them behind the bar for taking bribes to serve vested interest besides playing with the emotions of the people,” said a senior lawyer of Supreme Court.
“It will not be easy for Iftikhar-led court to penalize its favorites like Hamid Mir and Kamran Khan accused of receiving bribes,” He says it the best time to clean the mess from media. “The CJ should not be afraid of the media wizards. Let them expose fully before the people of Pakistan.”
The advocate says if the apex court does not take action against the 19 media men’s corruption then it will give a very wrong message to society, making the media and its underworld mafia more powerful.
Here is a list leaked from Malik Riaz’s office containing the names of anchors and journalists who received gifts/ funding from him.

1. Mubashir Luqman
– Received 2 crore and 85 lakh rupees (Rs38.5million) in 3 installments through national bank
– Mercedes-Benz

2. Dr. Shahid Masood
– Received 1 crore and 7 lakh rupees (Rs10.7 million) through National Bank
– 7 fully paid trips to Dubai, including hotel stays and car rentals.

3. Najam Sethi
– Received 1 crore and 94 lakh rupees (Rs19.4million)
– 1 Kanal plot in Bahria town Lahore
– 3 fully paid trips to USA, including hotel stays.

4. Kamran Khan
– Received 62 lakh rupees(Rs6.2million), was promised 2 crore (Rs20million) + a house in Bahria town which he didn’t get and this was the reason he decided to break the story.

5. Hassan Nisar
– Received 1 crore 10 lakh rupees (Rs11 million)_ – 10 marla plot in Bahria town

6. Hamid Mir
– Received 2 crore and 50 lakh rupees (25million)
– 5 kanal plot in Islamabad

7. Mazhar Abbas received 90 lakh rupees (Rs9million)

8. Aftab Iqbal received Rs20 million.

9: Sana Bucha received Rs8.3 million

10: Muneeb Farooq received Rs 2.5 million

11: Asma Sherazi received Rs 4.5 million, Rehman Malik had also sponsored her and hubby Rehmani VIP Haj two years ago.

12: Sami Ibrahim received Rs10 million.

13: Arshad Sharif received Rs8.5 million

14: Nusrat Javed received Rs7.8 million

15: Mushtaq Minhas received Rs 5.5 million

16 Javed Chaudhry received Rs300,000 per column he writes in the name of Malik Riaz

17: Marvi Sarmad received Rs I million

18: Poor Sohail Warriach only received Rs 1.5 million

19: Mehar Bukhari received Rs5 million gift on her wedding. Kashif Abbasi, her husband, did a show against Riaz whether for only ‘obliging’ her wife or some other reasons.(http://www.pakdestiny.com)