LHC directs court to halt references against Sharifs

References on hold till November 17; Sharifs say they’re unlawful.

RAWALPINDI: An accountability court has been directed by the Rawalpindi bench of the Lahore High Court to not take up any proceedings in three corruption references pending against Pakistan Muslim League chief Nawaz Sharif and his family till November 17.

Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Abdul Waheed Khan further directed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to submit their comments in the three identical petitions filed by Sharif and his associates till the next date of hearing.

The Sharif family has said that the hearing in these references was adjourned sine die (without assigning a further date for hearing) in early 2008. This means the cases can be resurrected by the government at its convenience, according to the family.

The Lahore High Court (LHC), however, allowed NAB prosecution to file an application with the trial court for the restoration of the pending corruption references after a deputy prosecutor general argued that the bureau was now ready to contest the case adjourned sine die.

The petitioners include former prime minister Mian Nawaz Sharif, Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif, Mian Muhammad Abbas Sharif, Mian Hussain Nawaz, Mian Hamza Shahbaz, Shamim Akhtar mother of Nawaz Sharif, Sabiha Abbas, Maryam Safdar, Hudabia Paper Mills company secretary Syed Ajmal Sibtain and the Ittifaq Foundries manager.

The petitioners, filing through Advocate Muhammad Akram Sheikh, have urged the high court to declare the references filed in 2000 by the government of Pervez Musharraf, under the National Accountability Bureau Ordinance NAB 199, as unlawful.

The federal government, NAB and an Accountability Court-IV judge have been made respondents, while the petitioners have further urged the court to stay any proceedings in these references until a final decision is taken regarding their petition in the LHC.

Corruption cases

In the Hudabia Paper Mills case, Haroon Pasha and Senator Ishaq Dar are also accused. The accused were charged with securing a huge amount of money as a loan in the name of Hudabia Paper Mills and later using the loan for other purposes, causing a massive loss to the national exchequer. The Ittifaq Foundry corruption reference accuses Nawaz and others of the same fraud.

Similarly in the Assets Reference, the accused persons were charged with accumulation of money and assets beyond their declared means of income by allegedly misusing their authority.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 19^th, 2011.