The Supreme Court on Friday issued notices to 222 companies, accused of having loans to the tune of Rs54 billion written off, to appear before the court on June 8.

A bench, headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, had on May 13 ordered the appearance of the companies whose loans had allegedly been written off illegally.

In compliance with the order, the SC Registrar today issued notices for appearance to the 222 companies, 92 of which had their loans waived from Habib Bank Limited. Seventy others had got their loans waived off from the National Bank of Pakistan, while loans by seven other banks including the Bank of Khyber, Zarai Taraquati Bank Limited and United Bank Limited, were also waived illegally.

The order had been passed in relation to a suo motu case from 2007 and was based on a report by a commission formed by the court to investigate the issue.