LAHORE – The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday adjourned until February 10, hearing of a petition filed by a consortium of banks for winding up three units of the Ittefaq Group in order to recover around Rs 3 billion loans from the Sharif family. Earlier, a court formed committee presented its recommendations about winding up the units and the petitioners-banks sought time from the court to review the same.
The National Bank of Pakistan, Habib Bank Limited, United Bank Limited, Zarai Taraqiati Bank of Pakistan, Muslim Commercial Bank, PICIC Bank, First Punjab Mudarba and Corporate Law Authority had filed the petition in 1998. The petitioners requested the court to order recovery of their loan through auction of the Ittefaq Foundries, Ittefaq Textile Mills and Khalid Siraj Industries, as the Sharifs had failed to fulfill their financial commitments made against the loan given to them.
Earlier, the LHC had ordered sale of these units but the decision was challenged by Mian Meraj Din (late), a shareholder in the Ittefaq Group and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif’s uncle, on ground that auction of said units was in violation of Section 284 of the Companies Ordinance. The four units, including the Ittefaq Foundries, Ittefaq Brothers and Brother Steel Mills were handed over by the Sharifs to the petitioner-banks to adjust the loan amount, but banks had demanded payment in cash.
