Outstanding debts: FIA dredges up loan case against the Sharif family
The Sharif family, including former premier Nawaz Sharif, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and 13 other relatives have failed to return loans worth over Rs2.3 billion despite a lapse of 18 years, a report prepared by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) revealed.
The case brief, available with The Express Tribune, revealed that during the year 1994-95, the Ittefaq Group of Industries (one of the Sharifs’ family businesses) obtained loans from various banks amounting to almost Rs3.1 billion in total. In return, the Ittefaq Group pledged the companies’ mortgaged fixed assets, stocks, raw materials, finished goods, stock charges and personal guarantees by the companies’ directors as collateral. The mortgaged assets (including industrial property), according to sources, are now worth far more than the Rs2.3 billion liabilities.
A breakdown of the loans obtained shows that Rs1.545 billion was obtained from the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), Rs340 million from United Bank Limited (UBL), Rs239 million from Muslim Commercial Bank (MCB), Rs110 million from First Punjab Modarba, Rs61 million from the Bank of Punjab, Rs58 million from the Agriculture Development Bank of Pakistan, Rs 17 million from Pakistan Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation (PICIC) and Rs8 million from the Investment Corporation of Pakistan.
The outstanding liabilities of the Ittefaq Group of Industries lie at over Rs2.3 billion, including the principal amount, mark-up, and cost of funds.
As per the recovery suits, the names of directors of the Ittefaq Industries include Nawaz Sharif, Shahbaz Sharif, Nusrat Shahbaz. In 1998, the directors of the Ittefaq Group voluntarily offered to surrender the assets of the group to the Lahore High Court (LHC), to settle claims of all the creditor banks. Upon this offer, all the banks unanimously agreed to get a court order and as per legal advice, an application was filed by the banks before the LHC.
While hearing this application, the LHC constituted a Committee on July 8, 1998 to take possession and to protect, preserve and dispose of the assets of the companies belonging to the Ittefaq Group.
Sources familiar with the matter, however, say that one director of the group or another would file a petition every time the court came close to allowing bidding on the assets, thereby delaying the process.
The committee has convened a number of meetings since its constitution, and bids were called through the publication of notices in newspapers .The last and highest bidding was received in 2005, amounting to Rs2.48 billion. The bidding was jointly endorsed and submitted to the committee by all creditor banks, after which the committee further submitted it to the LHC for an order to accept the said bid for an auction of the units. However, the court order has not been issued yet due to various legal complications, the FIA report stated.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 14th, 2012.
COMMENTS (37)
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in pakistan nothing is transparent,every thing is politicized, a simple business deal is propagated as curruption case, loan is sanction against property plugment every industrius & business man takes loan, its just a political revenge.
@KHK: If there was any meat in this case, General Musharaf would never have spared the Mian brothers.
@Maleeha Hashmi: When the assets are legally with the courts , why are you making so much hue and cry ????
PPP and PML-N will blackmail each other but will NEVER take any concrete action, because both are SAME.
NS will get relief from the courts
Most people commenting here are clueless. Read the article again and again. The Sharifs have already paid in the form of assets worth more than the amount due. A court decision will only return them the excess money. And I agree that the decision should be made soon.
It is just a pressure exerted by PPP on Sharif Brothers. Nothing else. Nothing will be proved.
During his second term in office Nawaz sharif declared on live television address that his family and trading/industrial companies owe woofing NINI billion rupees to various banks and that they are unable to pay and have handed over the keys etc to banks towards liquidation of the liabilities.They also owed 11million dollars to a London as documented in news papers. Why lenders are silent over the recovery is a mystery.
It isn't Muslim Commercial Bank anymore. It is MCB. Please rectify it.
Nothing will happen as long as their supporters are occupying both LHC and SC benches. A day before NS openly claimed that they are not corrupt and the courts of today blindly believe them, why, think think and think ..........
Four years of noora kushti entering final phase!!! Now both PPP and PMLN are preparing for elections! That is it!!! PTI Zindabad!
@ jutt Pitty the nation WHO potray criminals as their heroes.
and they pretend to be angels dood mei dhulay hue...lolxx!
1) Express Tribune should make the case brief PDF file available on the Web site.
2) Timing of this case is mischevous and political to damage Sharifs near election time.
3) Moeny should be recovered from big defaulters who can pay. Sugar mills, poultry farms, steel mills, London flats, Raiwind palaces ... all the loan money being put to good use.
The money should be returned as per the actual valuation either against the gold or dollar so that the devaluation of rupee could be covered.
you don't build palaces by being honest ,but be assured courts will grant them another stay/way out
The loan was secured against pledged assets. The said assets are worth more than the amount owed and these assets are in the possession of the courts. Where is the corruption? The courts should sell the assets ASAP and return the excess to the owners. Case closed.
Not victimisation... This nation needs all of its money back, no matter whether it's in Swiss banks, in UK Flats, in Ittefaq Foundaries, or even in NICL Scandal. This money is of this nation, and today, or tomorrow, you have to pay them back, so-called leaders!
@Non-Conformist: well, this is what these PPP and PMLn will keep on doing to each other; blackmailing and this is a reason i think we should abandon these two parties once and for all because they will keep on pouring allegations on one another but will never take any action as they are aware of the fact that once the accountability starts, both will be goners....
True Story
i think this case was lounged to take political revenge from PMLN.. nawaz sahrif is a real hero of pakistan
The IM had promised to expose Sharif's in ten days period, so this appears to be the first gift to them. Well done Malik Sahib, hoping for many more.
It is Lahore HC and it cannot take any decision against Sharif Brothers. Even if hte govt and bank get a verdict against Sharifs the PCO SC judges would never move against them. The high judiciary is too busy hounding the elected govt of PPP. According to courts and PML-N the only corrupt are the ruling coalition govt and they never indulged in corruption.
So now we understand why Sharifs supported PPP and did not do a real opposition role since last many years, apparently to avoid paying up till the time Sharifs get back to power.
Nawaz Sharif will claim that he has no knowledge how these debts were acquired by his family. All the debts are in his cat's name because all the factories and cars are in the cat's name too and musharraf is responsible for them. He will call for a long march against these debts and will join people if they come out to protest.
The not so Sharif's should be forced to pay off their debts or be declared proclaimed defaulters.
Sharif cases do not merit day to day hearing. So, these cases can conveniently rest in cold storage. However, this does not mean pressure on PPP cases be released. PPP cases do need expeditious disposal with guilty verdicts. This policy is required for the safety and security of Pakistan. We hear quite often one of Churchillian quotes during second world war which said as long as courts are dispensing justice, there is nothing to worry about.
I really really appreciate FIA's work in this regard. We should all try to get rid of these corrupt politicians and bring change by joining hands with Imran Khan..!!
So they have voluntary surrendered the asset worth more than the loans, what is the foul play?
strange!!! their loans were sanctioned in 1994-95. I don't think BB would have allowed that to her enemies.
Although the case picking up steam at this point in time has political undertones, it is a good idea for it to be addressed. Getting big bank loans and defaulting on those is one of the less obvious but very significant sources of corruption.
there you go!