ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Tuesday began hearing the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) appeal regarding re-opening of the Rs1.2 billion Hudaibiya Paper Mills case against Ishaq Dar and main figures of the Sharif family.
NAB had appealed against an earlier decision of the Lahore High Court (LHC) directing it to quash investigations into the case, which accuses former finance minister Ishaq Dar and prominent members of the Sharif family of money laundering.
The three-member bench hearing the case consists of Justice Qazi Faez Isa and Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel and is headed by Justice Mushir Alam.
As proceedings resumed, Justice Isa asked about the whereabouts of the original NAB reference, as it is quite relevant for the above mentioned hearing.
The NAB prosecutor while responding to this, stated that he could not find the reference, and concluded that they do not think that it holds any relevance in the hearing.
Bench member Justice Alam alarmed by this response remarked What is the purpose of the hearing if the original reference is unavailable.
Bench lead, Justice Qazi Faez Isa then asked the NAB prosecutor to read out the remaining petition after which the bench was informed that the suspect was sent out of the country when the case was ongoing.
Justice Isa then asked if the accused former prime minister Nawaz Sharif went on his own free will or was forced to go abroad, to which the NAB official said the country’s present chief executive General (retd) Pervez Musharraf had sent him.
The Hudaibiya Paper Mills case hearing was then adjourned till December 11 as NAB requested for more time to prepare for the case.
NAB was also directed to provide all records of the aforementioned case at the next hearing.
