SC promises to consider tycoon's apology in contempt case.

The Supreme Court on Thursday assured the counsel for property tycoon and Bahria Town (Pvt) Limited chairman Malik Riaz Hussain that it would consider any apology if furnished by his client in a contempt of court case.

A three-judge SC bench headed by Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa also asked counsel Dr Abdul Basit to move an application seeking exemption of the property tycoon from personal appearance in the contempt of court case against him.

The directives were issued when the counsel sought the exemption on the grounds that his client was suffering from prostate cancer and currently in the United Kingdom.

The contempt of court case was initiated against Malik Riaz in 2012 for hurling harsh allegations against then chief justice Iftikhar MohamAmad Chaudhry and his son Dr ArsaAlan Iftikhar for alleged business deals.

A three-judge SC bench consisting of former judges Justice

Mian Shakirullah Jan, Justice Tariq Parvez and Justice Amir Hani Muslim had sat after normal court timings on June 13, 2012, to issue a show-cause notice to the property tycoon for hurling the allegations at a press conference a day earlier.

Mr Riaz had raised three questions for then CJP Chaudhry to answer against the backdrop of alleged financial wrongdoings by his son Arsalan Iftikhar. The property tycoon accused the then chief justice of holding late-night secret meetings in the presence of his son.

The notice was taken on a note put up by then SC registrar Dr Faqir Hussain annexing the Urdu transcript of whatever had been stated by Mr Riaz verbatim at the press conference on charges of scandalising and bringing the court and...