ISLAMABAD - The Supreme Court Monday reserved judgment whether under National Accountability Ordinance 1999 the NAB authorities could arrest guarantor in financial deal.
A three-member bench headed by Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali was hearing a NAB appeal against the Lahore High Court order.
Since 1994 Ittefaq Foundries obtained Rs1.6 billion from National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) but did not return even a single penny to the bank. The Zonal Chief and Manager of NBP, Lahore, therefore, wrote a letter to the NAB against Ittefaq Foundries its directors comprising Mian Muhammad Sharif, Mian Nawaz Sharif, Mian Javed Shafi, and Mian Shahbaz Sharif. Assistant Director FIA had conducted the investigation and recorded the statements of the bank officers and all the concerned persons.
The inquiry found that the company (Ittefaq Foundries) committed willful default as defined in the NAB Ordinance 1999. After the coup the Sharif family had flown out of the country and the NAB authorities arrested Mukhtar Hussain, director Ittefaq Foundries, for wilful default of the company loan. Fehmida Mukhtar, the wife of Mukhtar Hussain, filed the petition against the NAB action and a five-member bench of Lahore High Court with majority held that the gurantors could not be arrested, therefore, he was released.
However, the Supreme Court in 2013 in a judgment held that the guarantors could also be arrested in case the owners were available. In view of that the NAB had filed an appeal against the LHC decision stating that the high court judgment was wrong. Ibrahim Satti representing the NAB prayed that the LHC order should be set aside as it was an obstacle in other NAB cases. The bench observed that after almost 15 years the NAB had realized that the LHC verdict was wrong. The court inquired from Satti whether any reference or appeals against the accused is pending in any high courts, and directed him to provide it copy. The bench after hearing the argument reserved the judgment.