ISLAMABAD - The executive board of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) will meet on Tuesday (today) to discuss the bureau's future course of action on Hudaibiya Paper Mills case as well as other corruption cases, the Nation has learnt.
The NAB Chairperson, Qamar Zaman Chaudhry, will chair the meeting and all regional DGs and officials of the legal wing will participate.
Well placed sources in the NAB confirmed to The Nation that the executive board meeting would be held on Tuesday and it would discuss future strategy on Hudaibiya Paper Mills case.
He denied that recently referred four references by the Supreme Court against the Sharif family would be part of the agenda of the meeting.
Additional Prosecutor General had informed the Supreme Court on July 21st that the bureau would file appeal in SC to open the Hudaibiya Paper Mills case within seven days but the bureau had failed to follow the given timeframe.
According to the available documents with The Nation, on July 20th, the NAB had decided in a meeting to file “Civil Petition for Leave to Appeal” in the Supreme Court to seek reopening of Hudaibiya Paper Mills case on the return of NAB prosecutor general of accountability from the United Kingdom.
The prosecutor general returned on July 23rd.
NAB Director-General (Operations) Syed Zahir Shah briefed the NAB chairman during the meeting that the bureau had collected a number of new evidences in the Hudaibiya Paper Mills case from the joint investigation team (JIT) in the Panama Papers case.
According to the documents, Mian Muhammad Sharif, Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, Shehbaz Sharif, Abbas Sharif, Maryam Nawaz, Hussain Nawaz and Hamza Shahbaz had been accused of receiving ill-gotten money in the case.
It is worth mentioning here that the NAB had filed two references in the Hudaibiya Paper Mills case.
Minister Ishaq Dar was nominated as an accused in the first reference, but the bureau in its final reference expelled his name after he recorded a confessional statement.
A bureau’s top official claimed that the NAB chairman had already given the green signal to file “Civil Petition for Leave to Appeal (CPLA)” in the Hudaibiya Paper Mills case.
He said Prosecutor General (Accountability) Waqas Qadeer Dar had prepared the final draft of appeal with the consultation of the NAB chairman and other officials of the bureau.
The official said that after getting the green signal from the SC in this case, the bureau would summon all the accused to record their statements in the case.
He said that the NAB chairman would take the officials in confidence on the issue in Tuesday’s meeting.
The Nation tried to contact the bureau’s spokesperson through telephone calls and text messages to get his version on the issue but he did not respond till filling of this story.
In 2014, the Lahore High Court (LHC) had quashed the Hudaibiya Paper Mills reference against the Sharifs and the NAB did not challenge the decision in the apex court.
The incumbent NAB chairman had also denied filing an appeal in the Hudaibiya Paper Mills case during the Panama Papers case hearing.
The JIT had strongly recommended the reopening of Hudaibiya Paper Mills case, observing that substantial evidence substantiated the FIA and the NAB investigations and established linkage between the investigations of the two departments.
The JIT had also summoned a former and current NAB chairmen and Ishaq Dar, and had recorded their statements in this case.
The JIT had also asked the NAB chairman to provide the attested copies of Hudaibiya Paper Mills case record.
Earlier, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar had submitted a confessional statement regarding money laundering before a magistrate on April 25th, 2000 during the Hudaibiya Paper Mills reference.
Dar and his lawyers frequently disowned the confessional statements during the Panama Papers hearings.
The SC had told Dar’s lawyer that if the confessional statement in the Hudaibiya Paper Mills case was considered withdrawn, his status as co-accused in the case would be restored.
On the other hand, the PTI Chairman, Imran Khan, criticised the NAB’s role in Hudaibiya Paper Mills case in a public gathering on August 13th.
He said that the aim behind ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s road march was to put pressure on the NAB and the courts.