ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Thursday said that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB)’s request to reopen the Hudaibiya Paper Mills case “is illogical and against the law”.
Responding to NAB’s appeal against a Lahore High Court (LHC) order to quash an investigation into the Rs1.2 billion Hudabiya Paper Mills scam against the Sharif family, Dar said that the LHC had ruled in his favour and even the apex court had not directed the authorities concerned to start the investigation from the scratch.
“NAB’s request to reopen the case is incomprehensible,” insisted Dar.
Almost 17 years ago, NAB had claimed that Sharif and his family received over Rs1 billion ‘through illegal and fraudulent means’ and that they were liable to be tried under anti-corruption laws. In 2014, the LHC quashed the Hudaibiya Paper Mills reference against the Sharifs.
On Wednesday, the NAB reopened investigation against Ishaq Dar in the corruption case.
It is pertinent to mention here that Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, while distancing himself from a petition filed by NAB against the LHC order of quashing Hudaibiya Papers Mills case against the Sharif family, had referred to his earlier verdict in Panama Papers case regarding the mill’s reference.
In his April 20 judgement, Justice Khosa’s 192-page note had directed NAB to proceed against Dar in connection with the Hudaibiya reference case wherein he was not an accused when the said reference was quashed by the LHC, which also barred re-investigation and set aside Dar’s confessional statement.
The judge observed that there was an apparent flaw in the judgement as the reference to the LHC judge was on whether or not an observation could be made not regarding the re-investigation, and not as to whether re-investigation could be carried out. He also said that NAB did not challenge the LHC verdict before the SC.
He added that as a coincidence, Nawaz Sharif was prime minister at that time.
Justice Khosa said that the reference was quashed by the LHC because in the investigation, the Sharifs had not been associated and Dar’s confessional statement had been made before a magistrate and not before a trial court.
