ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Saturday constituted a three-judge bench to take up a plea of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) seeking reopening of the Hudaibiya Paper Mills case against the Sharif family.
A new bench, headed by Justice Mushir Alam and consisting of Justice Qazi Faez Isa and Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel, will hear the case on November 28.
On November 13, the bench headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa and comprising Justice Dost Muhammad Khan and Justice Mazhar Alam Khan was dissolved after Justice Khosa recused himself from the bench and referred the matter to the chief justice of Pakistan for constituting another bench. Justice Khosa had observed that the appeal had been wrongly fixed before him. Since he had suggested in the April 20 judgement in the Panama Papers that the Hudaibiya Paper Mills case required to be re-investigated, he could not hear the appeal to this effect, he remarked.
The NAB challenged the Lahore High Court’s verdict, quashing the Rs 1.2 billion Hudaibiya corruption reference against the ruling family. The Sharif family seemed to be unhappy with the NAB move seeking the reopening of the case, which was put to rest on the orders of the Lahore High Court.
The Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) had reacted to the NAB appeal, with Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique terming it unjustified.
The NAB through its Prosecutor General Waqas Qadeer Dar had filed the appeal, pleading the top court to grant “leave to appeal” to examine the legality, propriety and vires of the 2014 LHC verdict quashing the Hudaibiya Paper Mills case, and to set aside the impugned judgement.
Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif, their mother Shamim Akhtar, Nawaz’s children Maryam Safdar and Hussain Nawaz, Punjab CM’s son Hamza Shehbaz, Hudaibya Paper Mills Ltd, the federal government and others have been named as respondents in the appeal.
According to the Hudaibiya reference, the Sharif family had been accused of setting up Hudaibiya Paper Mills Ltd to launder money.
A joint investigation team set up to investigate the Sharif family’s offshore properties had recommended in its report that the Hudaibiya Paper Mills should be investigated afresh.
Published in Daily Times, November 26th 2017.
