Supreme Court issues arrest warrants, criticises NAB

ISLAMABAD- The Supreme Court on Thursday issued arrest orders of Haris Steel Mills CEO Sheikh Munir in the Rs 9 billion Bank of Punjab loan scam case. The court also asked the Bank of Punjab to confiscate property of Sheikh Afzal, owner of Haris Steel, after duly publicizing the same in newspapers. A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and comprising Justice Ghulam Rabbani and Justice Jawwad S Khawaja heard the case. During previous hearing of the case, the court had directed Sheikh Munir, brother of Sheikh Afzal, to deposit Rs 500 million in BoP besides surrendering property worth the same amount as a token of goodwill for resolving the case outside the court. On Thursday, counsel for Sheikh Afzal Wasim Sajjad informed the court that his client had deposited Rs 200 million only. The Chief Justice expressed serious displeasure over this and said owners of Haris Steel had betrayed the court. The court asked the Bank of Punjab to take over possession of the property belonging to Sheikh Afzal and his family after duly publishing a list of the property in newspapers to see if some other people claim the said property. The court also issued order of arrest of Sheikh Munir, owners of Prime Steel and Hyder Steel Abid Raza, Naeem Siddiq besides fourteen other accused in the case. Khawaja Haris, counsel for BoP, informed that Sheikh Afzals family members had purchased properties in Dubai with the amounts drawn from the BoP. The Chief Justice directed him to present list of such properties in court so that the matter is taken up through the Foreign Office. During the course of hearing of the case, the Chief Justice and Justice Jawwad S Khawaja expressed serious displeasure over the conduct of National Accountability Bureau (NAB). The Chief Justice said that NAB was not interested in disposing of the case and it did not want to extradite owners of Haris Steel. Owner of Haris Steel Sheikh Afzal has taken refuge in UK along with his son Haris Afzal. Justice Jawwad S Khawaja observed that the NAB was not proceeding in a professional way for extradition of the accused. He said NAB should have hired an expert for the purpose. The case was adjourned till October 5.

The writer is a member of staff and can be reached at khalidaziz100@gmail.com

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