Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Wednesday filed an appeal in the Supreme Court seeking to set aside a Lahore High Court (LHC) verdict ordering closure of Rs 1.2 billion Hudaibiya Paper Mills case which led to the acquittal of Nawaz Sharif and his family members.

The appeal was filed by NAB’s prosecutor general under Article 185 (3) of the constitution, making Nawaz Sharif, Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif, their deceased brother Abbas Sharif and five other family members as respondents.

The appeal requested the court to declare the LHC verdict acquitting the Sharif family in Hudaibiya Paper Mills case by quashing it as void and illegal in the interest of justice, fair play and equity.

“The LHC’s referee judge was not competent to set aside the findings of the high court in which NAB had been allowed to re-initiate investigations against Sharif family members,” the plea contended.

It said the joint investigating team (JIT) formed to probe the allegations of corruption against the Sharif family in the Panama Papers case collected further incriminating evidence relating to Hudaibiya Paper Mills, thus the high court verdict may be set aside and NAB may be allowed to proceed further with the investigation process. It says that the JIT in its report has also recommended reopening of the Hudaibiya Paper Mills case.

In light of the JIT recommendations, the Supreme Court in its July 28 verdict in Panama Papers case had directed NAB to reopen the case. It had also questioned the role of NAB which had seemingly favoured the Sharif family in the Hudaibya Paper Mills case by not challenging the LHC decision.

The Hudaibiya Paper Mills money laundering reference was initiated on the basis of an April 25, 2000, confessional statement by Ishaq Dar wherein he admitted his role in laundering money to the tune of $14.86 million on behalf of the Sharif family through fictitious accounts in 1990s. The witness was, however, pardoned by the then NAB chairman. LHC’s referee Justice Sardar Shamim had quashed the reference on March 11, 2014, on the grounds that if a re-investigation was allowed against the Sharif family, it would provide an opportunity to the investigators to pad up lacunas. The LHC had quashed the case as the PML-N continued to claim that Dar’s statement was taken under duress.

Later, NAB had decided not to challenge the high court’s decision. Nawaz Sharif was not named in the interim reference filed in March 2000, however, in the final reference against the Hudaibiya Paper Mills – approved by then chairman NAB Khalid Maqbool – the bureau had accused Nawaz Sharif, Shehbaz Sharif, Abbas Sharif, Hussain Nawaz, Hamza Shehbaz, Shamim Akhtar, Sabiha Abbas and Maryam Nawaz.

Published in Daily Times, September 21^st 2017.