RAWALPINDI, Aug 17: An accountability court here on Friday admitted a NAB application for reopening three corruption references against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his family members.
Accountability Court No 4 Judge Chaudhry Khalid Mehmood directed the National Accountability Bureau authorities to produce before the court the record of present status of the accused persons and their residential addresses by August 25, the next date for the hearing. The references were filed in 2000.
Senior prosecutor-general Arif Zafar Chohan and deputy prosecutor general Zulfiqar Ahmed Bhutta represented the bureau in the court.
The NAB through deputy prosecutor-general moved on Aug 7 three identical applications to the accountability court for the reopening of corruption cases against the former prime minister, but the court could not take up the applications because of summer vacations.
At the last hearing on August 15, the judge reserved the decision about the reopening of the three cases -- Hudabia Paper Mills, Ittifaq Foundry and Raiwind assets -- after the DPG told the court that these cases were adjourned sine die on April 12, 2001, after the Nawaz Sharif and his family went into exile in Saudi Arabia under a so-called deal with the Musharraf government and he sought reopening of the cases.
The DPG had at the last hearing informed the court that in the Hudabia Paper Mills reference, Nawaz Sharif, Shahbaz Sharif, Abbas Sharif, Hussain Nawaz, Hamza Shahbaz, Haroon Pasha and former senator Ishaq Dar were co-accused. They were charged with securing huge amount as loan in the name of Hudabia Paper Mills and later using the loan for other purposes, thus causing huge losses to the national exchequer.
In the Ittifaq Foundry reference, Nawaz Sharif, Abbas Sharif, Mukhtar Hassan, Kamal Qureshi and a couple of other persons were accused of securing big loans and abusing these. In the assets reference, the accused persons included Nawaz Sharif, Shahbaz Sharif, their father late Mian Sharif, mother Shamim Akhtar and other family members. They were charged with accumulating huge money and assets beyond their declared means of income by allegedly misusing their authority.