SC dismisses NAB's plea to adjourn Hudaibiya proceedings; stops analysis of case on media

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court dismissed on Monday the National Accountability Bureau's (NAB) request to adjourn proceedings of the Hudaibiya Paper Mills till a new prosecutor general is appointed.

As the hearing of NAB's appeal regarding the reopening of the Rs1.2 billion corruption case began, the three-member bench stated that it would hear the case today and that it has nothing do with the NAB prosecutor's appointment. 

Justice Mushir Alam remarked that there is no ground for delaying the proceedings while Justice Qazi Faez Isa observed that the NAB should not mock the court.

As the hearing resumed around noon, the NAB prosecutor informed the bench that the details asked by the court have been submitted. 

Justice Alam then inquired why the case was put in storage. 

The bench then went over the circumstances surrounding the case following the 1999 military coup and asked the NAB prosecutor over the bureau's failure to pursue the case after the then prime minister Nawaz Sharif went into exile. 

Justice Isa wondered during the hearing that had the Panama case bench of the apex court not made the observation [regarding reopening of the Hudaibiya case], would NAB have not filed the appeal?

The hearing was then adjourned until tomorrow, December 12. 

Media stopped from conducting analysis on case 

During the hearing, the court ordered to restrict analyses of the case on media and stated that only the reporting of facts would be permitted.

It further stated that live shows on the facts of the case would not be allowed on the electronic media. 

NAB has appealed an earlier decision of the Lahore High Court (LHC) directing it to quash the investigation into the case, which accuses former finance minister Ishaq Dar and prominent members of the Sharif family of money laundering.

On December 9, NAB requested the adjournment of proceedings till a new prosecutor general is appointed at the bureau. The office of NAB prosecutor has been lying vacant since Waqas Qadeer Dar retired in November.

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The bureau also submitted a set of documents to the court including copies of the interim and final reference of the case along with Volume 8A of the Panama case Joint Investigation Team report, which also contains a copy of the Hudaibya reference.

Alongside, NAB also submitted the diary of the accountability court which heard the Hudaibya reference, as well as the procedure of appointment of the NAB chairperson and the list of all chairmen of the bureau appointed so far till its inception in 1999.

A timeline of Nawaz Sharif’s appointment as prime minister, including the period he was in exile after being ousted by former president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf was also submitted. 

At the last hearing of the case November 28 hearing, the court had directed the bureau to produce all records of the case at the next hearing. 

NAB's appeal

On September 20 this year, NAB filed an appeal in the Supreme Court against the LHC's 2014 decision, naming former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his brothers Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif and late Abbas Sharif, their mother Shamim Akhter, Shehbaz's son and MNA Hamza Shehbaz, Nawaz's daughter Maryam, and others as respondents.

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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.

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 in the case for the prosecution.

That reference was struck down by a referee judge of 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.