ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court reserved its ruling on Monday on the National Accountability Bureau’s appeal against the acquittal of a guarantor in the Sharif brothers’ bank loan default case.

A three-judge bench headed by Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali asked NAB to submit complete record of the case history against Mukhtar Hussain, one of the directors and guarantor of the Ittefaq Foundries in the case.

Also read: Court acquits Sharifs in money laundering case

According to the reference filed by NAB, Ittefaq Foundries and its then directors — Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Mian Javed Shafi, Mian Yousuf Aziz, Mian Tariq Shafi and others — were guilty of wilful default to the National Bank (NBP) to the tune of over Rs1 billion since 1994.

On June 11, 1998, Prime Minister Sharif announced in an address to the nation handing over of his assets, including the Ittefaq Foundries, to the bank to recover the loans payable by his family by selling them.

NAB told to submit case history record of Mukhtar Hussain, a director and guarantor of the Ittefaq Foundries in the case

A petition under the Companies Ordinance of 1984 was filed before the Lahore High Court under the directives of the State Bank for the proposed arrangements.

During the hearing of the petition, the company admitted a liability of Rs728 million against the bank’s claim of Rs1bn. It was also transpired during the proceedings before LHC, according to the reference, that the company was not serious in retiring its debts and with mala fide intention was raising obstacles in the recovery of the loans and had thus committed wilful default.

After the coup of Oct 12, 1999 by Gen Pervez Musharraf, when Mr Sharif went into exile along with his family, NAB arrested one of the guarantors and confidantes of the family, Mukhtar Hussain, who along with his wife was among the directors of the business group.

His wife Fehmida Mukhtar filed a habeas corpus petition before the LHC for his release.

A five-judge high court bench acquitted him on the grounds that the guarantor could not be prosecuted for the alleged crimes of the Sharifs.

NAB filed the appeal before the Supreme Court in 2000.

On Monday, Advocate Muham­mad Ibrahim Satti, representing NAB, said that the high court order’s had become an impediment in the bureau filing corruption references against the accused. He pleaded before the court to set aside the LHC order and argued that the prime minister, through a statement, had conceded that he was a defaulter.

The counsel informed the court that the name of Mr Hussain had been deleted from the reference after the high court judgment.

Published in Dawn, November 11th, 2014