Supreme Court to hear NAB's Hudaibiya case appeal on Monday

ISLAMABAD: The chief justice has formed a three-member bench to hear the appeal of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against the decision of the Lahore High Court quashing the Hudaibiya Paper Mills case against the Sharif family.

The bench, headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa and comprising Justice Dost Mohammad Khan and Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel, will hear the case on November 13.

Notices in this regard have been issued to the NAB prosecutor general. 

On September 20, NAB filed an appeal in the Supreme Court against the LHC decision, naming former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his brother and Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Shehbaz's son and MNA Hamza Shehbaz, and other family members as respondents.

The NAB has pleaded the Supreme Court to dismiss the LHC decision to quash the case and order a reinvestigation into the scam as per the new evidence which surfaced in the Panama case Joint Investigation Team report.

'Mother of all cases'

NAB had assured the apex court it would file the appeal during the hearing of Awami Muslim League leader Sheikh Rasheed's petition in the court seeking re-opening of the Hudaibiya case.

The matter was heard by the five-judge bench, headed by Justice Khosa, that was hearing review petitions against the court's July 28 judgment in the Panama Papers case.

Rasheed had submitted a petition in the apex court which stated that on July 21, during the hearing of the Panama Papers case, NAB had informed the apex court it would reply in seven days regarding the reopening of the Hudaibiya case.

Rasheed, a leading member of the opposition, has claimed that the Hudaibiya case is the "mother of all cases".

However, the bureau failed to reply within the stated time period and NAB chairman was even sent a notice in this regard but that too has yet to be replied to, the petitioner claimed.

Moreover, it was stated in the petition that the apex court had also directed for probing the Hudaibiya case in its July 28 judgment.

Hudaibiya Paper Mills case

The Hudaibiya Paper Mills was allegedly used as a cover by the Sharif family to launder money outside the country in the 1990s.

It was in relation to this case that the Sharif family's trusted aide, Ishaq Dar, recorded a confessional statement on April 25, 2000 in front of a magistrate in Lahore.

On the basis of that confession, a reference was filed by the NAB before an accountability court against the Hudabiya Paper Mills, three Sharif brothers, Dar and others.

That reference was struck down by the Lahore High Court on March 11, 2014 in response to a writ petition filed in 2011 stating that Dar's confession was coerced.

Dar had claimed that he had made the 'confession' in duress and disowned the statement.