ISLAMABAD: The National
Accountability Bureau (NAB) is preparing to take up cases against PML-N chief
Nawaz Sharif and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.
According to sources, the cases relate to default of Rs4.9 billion loans
obtained from nine banks in 1994-95.
“Cases against Sharif brothers were to be approved in a recent NAB board meeting
but were deferred on the directives of the Chairman, Admiral (retd) Fasih
Bokhari,” an official of the bureau said on Monday.
The chairman is reported to have said that all pending cases about politicians
would be taken up soon.
The NAB spokesman was not available for comment.
The bureau had earlier frozen some assets of the Sharif family against which the
loans had been taken.
The Supreme Court upheld in January a judgment of the Lahore High Court asking
NAB to release the assets of the Sharif family. It dismissed an appeal by NAB
Prosecutor General K.K. Agha against LHC’s Oct 4, 2011, directive to the bureau
to return Rs115 million and property of Hudabiya Paper Mills lying with the
National Bank, Islamabad.
The sources said the assets had not been released so far.
The prosecutor general had told the Supreme Court that before heading to Saudi
Arabia in December 2002, Nawaz Sharif had consented to return money to NAB under
an agreement.
When contacted, PML-N spokesman Mushahidullah said the party’s chief and his
family were not defaulters of any bank loan. “That was the reason Nawaz Sharif
demanded of the government to make public details of all bank loans not repaid
by politicians,” he said.
Replying to a question, he said the value of the frozen assets was far higher
than the amount of loans obtained. “Once their assets are released, they will
pay the loans,” he said.
The loans were taken from the NBP, Habib Bank, United Bank, Muslim Commercial
Bank, Punjab Mudaraba, Bank of Punjab, Agriculture Development Bank, Pakistan
Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation and ICP Bank.
During the proceedings in the Supreme Court, the NAB prosecutor general
submitted an agreement signed by Nawaz Sharif and the Musharraf government.
The LHC had declared the taking over of property of the petitioners as
unconstitutional, ultra vires under NAO, 1999, and without lawful authority. It
had also ordered payment of compensatory cost of Rs150,000 per petition to
Hudabiya mills, Nawaz Sharif, Shahbaz Sharif and Mian Mohammad Abbas Sharif.
Tags: Agriculture Development Bank, bank loans, Bank of Punjab, corruption,
Habib Bank, ICP Bank, Investment Corporation, Muslim Commercial Bank, NAB,
National Accountability Bureau, NBP, Pakistan Industrial Credit, Punjab Mudaraba,
United Bank
This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012 at 1:39 pm and is filed
under Corruption. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0
feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.