Hearing of NAB case against Nawaz put off till Oct 7

RAWALPINDI - A special judge Thursday adjourned till October 7 the hearing of the application of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to reopen three corruption references against Mian Nawaz Sharif and his family.   According to details, Special judge central Shokat Ali Sajid deferred the hearing of three references including Hudabia Paper Mills, Raiwind Assets and Ittifaq Foundry against Mian Nawaz Sharif and his family. After the court proceedings NAB special prosecutor Abdul Baseer Qureshi while talking to media men said the bureau had not moved any application for the reopening of cases against Sharif family. He said the accountability court did not adjourn sine die the cases on August 21 and the proceedings before the Special Judge Central (SJC) were in continuity after the cases were reopened in August 2007. It may be mentioned here that Accountability Court IV Judge Chaudhry Kahlid Mehmood adjourned the three cases Hudabia Paper Mills, Ittifaq Foundry and Raiwind Assets sine die on August 21 stating that the application of the NAB was not duly signed by the Bureau Chairman. The court decision was widely reported by the media but was not denied by the NAB and its lawyers.  The NAB in the application before SJC Shaukat Ali Sajid, who had been giving new dates in the NAB references as there was no judge at the four special accountability courts for the last many days, for the review of the August 21 decision of the accountability court. As per details, the corruption references were filed by Chairman NAB Islamabad on July 15, 2000. In Hudabia Paper Mills besides Mian Nawaz Sharif, Mian Shahbaz Sharif, Mian Abbas Sharif, Hussain Nawaz, Hamza Shahbaz, Haroon Pasha and Senator Ishaq Dar are co-accused. The accused were charged with securing huge amount as loan in the name of Hudabia Paper Mills and later using the loan for some other purpose and thus causing huge loss to the national exchequer. In Ittifaq Foundry Reference Mian Nawaz Sharif, Abbas Sharif, Mukhtar Hassan, Kamal Qureshi and a couple of other persons were accused of securing big loans and abusing the loans causing loss of millions to the national exchequer. Similarly, in Assets Reference the accused persons included Mian Nawaz Sharif, Mian Shahbaz Sharif, their father late Mian Sharif, mother Shamim Akhtar and other family members. In the reference they were charged with accumulation of huge money and assets beyond their declared means of income by allegedly misusing their authority.

ePaper - Nawaiwaqt