NAB appeals SC to form larger bench to review Hudaibiya case

F.P. Report

ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Thursday appealed the Supreme Court to form a larger bench in order to review the Hudaibiya Paper Mills case.

A three-member apex court bench had dismissed NAB’s appeal to reopen the Hudaibiya case earlier on December 15.

An appeal in this regard was filed with the apex court.

The bench was headed by Justice Mushir Alam and comprised Justices Qazi Faez Isa and Mazhar Alam Miankhel.

The one-line order, read out by Justice Alam, stated that NAB’s appeal to reopen the case was dismissed.

The Rs1.2 billion Hudaibiya Paper Mills case, involving money laundering charges against the Sharif family, was initiated by NAB in 2000 but quashed by the Lahore High Court (LHC) in 2014. The NAB had appealed the LHC decision in the Supreme Court.

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 accepting his role in laundering money.

On the basis of that confession, a reference was filed by the NAB in 2000 before an accountability court against the Hudabiya Paper Mills, three Sharif brothers, Dar and others.

Dar was not charged as he had become an approver for the prosecution.

That reference was struck down by a referee judge of the LHC 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’ under duress and disowned the statement.