ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Wednesday submitted a fresh application in the Supreme Court contending that Hudaibiya Paper Mills case could not be reopened timely due to the influence of Nawaz Sharif as ‘chief executive’ of the country. The application submitted by NAB’s Deputy Prosecutor General Imranul Haq contended that the bureau could not file an appeal against the March 11, 2014, decision of the Lahore High Court (LHC) of quashing the Hudaibiya Paper Mills reference due to Nawaz Sharif’s influence as a prime minister. It requested the court to ignore the delay in filing appeal against the LHC decision of quashing the Hudaibiya reference and allow the anti graft body to reopen the reference in the best interest of justice. It argued that the appeal for re-opening of Hudaibiya reference could not be dismissed merely on the basis of filing a time barred appeal against the LHC decision or someone’s non-seriousness. It pleaded that the appeal could also not be rejected on technical grounds. It argues that if NAB’s plea for reopening of the reference for further investigation is dismissed, it would be tantamount to a serious injustice. It contended that Nawaz Sharif was the prime minister when the reference was shelved. It states that the fault, loose control or non-serious working of the judges of the high court should not damage the prosecution case on mere technical ground of limitation. It says that denial of reinvestigation amounted to denial of justice itself, thus the justice was castrated that damage should be undone by the apex court by condoning the delay in filing the appeal against the LHC decision. It requests the court to scrutinize the LHC impugned judgment on the touchstones of precedents settled by the apex court in various cases. The request came in response to the questions asked by a three-member Supreme Court bench on Tuesday, while hearing a NAB’s appeal against the LHC verdict of quashing the Hudaibiya reference. In its fresh application, the NAB’s prosecutor has made an effort to justify the bureau’s failure in pursuing the Hudaibiya reference in appropriate manners. Earlier on Tuesday, a three-member Supreme Court bench comprising Justice Mushir Alam, Justice Qazi Faez Isa and Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel, had asked NAB to explain why it remained standstill after filing of the Rs1.2 billion Hudaibiya reference against members of the Sharif family and until the time they were sent into exile during an era when powerful former president retired Gen Pervez Musharraf was at the helm of affairs in the country. The court had also asked NAB to convince it that how Nawaz Sharif could have wielded influence that caused the 2000 reference to remain in the cold storage until it was finally quashed by the LHC on March 11, 2014. However, NAB prosecutor Imranul Haq had no answer to the questions raised by the court. The court then had directed NAB to file a concise statement by Dec 11 supported by documents showing specific dates and period when the respondents, including ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his brother Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif, were holding top offices and were sent to exile. The court had pointed out that NAB filed the reference on March 27, 2000, whereas the Sharif family members were sent into exile in December 2000. The court highlighted that the allegations in the reference seemed to be derived from an audit report of the Hudaibiya Paper Mills and presumably involved no public money, adding that NAB was not alleging that this matter concerned with the amassing of wealth by the accused beyond their known sources of income. The court noted that when the reference was filed, members of Sharif family were incarcerated and were not moving around freely but NAB did nothing to pursue the reference at that time. The court also noted that NAB had also not shown how the Sharifs used their influence to hinder the proceedings of the reference before the accountability court. Nawaz Sharif was not named in the interim reference filed in March 2000, however, in the final reference against the Hudaibiya Paper Mills (Pvt) Ltd, which was approved by then NAB chairman Lt Gen (r) Khalid Maqbool, the bureau had also made Nawaz Sharif as an accused in the reference. In its appeal filed on September 20, 2017, in the Supreme Court seeking reopening of Hudaibiya case by setting aside the LHC’s 2014 decision, the NAB has made ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his brothers Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and late Abbas Sharif, their mother Shamim Akhtar, Shahbaz Sharif’s son and MNA Hamza Shahbaz, Nawaz Sharif’s daughter Maryam Nawaz and others, respondents. The Hudaibiya Paper Mills was allegedly used as a cover by the Sharif family to launder money, to the tune of Rs 1.2 billion, outside the country in the 1990s. Published in Daily Times, November 30th 2017.