NAB to file appeal in Hudaibiya Paper Mills case

ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) will file an appeal in the Supreme Court in the Hudaibiya Papers Mills for ‘reinvestigation’ of the two-decade-old case based on the new material that surfaced in the wake of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) report and Panama case and, if allowed, it may take another year to complete the investigation, well-placed sources told The News.

The sources said that the option had been under consideration for the last few months but the bureau was waiting for the JIT and new facts so that the famous case might be evaluated again. 

The sources in the bureau said that all NAB could ask from the Supreme Court in 2014 was a reinvestigation of the case and now too, NAB would ask the SC to allow reinvestigation of the Hudaibiya Paper Mills case. It means that it may take another year for NAB to finalise its investigation and to file a reference in the accountability court, which again may take years to decide it.

The Prosecutor General of NAB also hinted in the Supreme Court on Friday that NAB was mulling over filing an appeal in the case. Earlier, the Supreme Court had passed harsh remarks against NAB’s chairman for not filing an appeal in the SC against the decision of the Lahore High Court which not only quashed the reference but also ruled closure of the reinvestigation of the case.

The record of the NAB in Hudaibiya Papers Mills case against the Sharif family, reveals that NAB Chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry was told by the Bureau’s prosecution that it was not a fit case for an appeal because the only thing NAB could ask from the Supreme Court was a reinvestigation and “a reinvestigation would be perceived as witch hunting/victimisation which would only bring a bad name to NAB and damage its credibility”. Qamar Zaman Chaudhry, in 2014 while deciding not to file an appeal against the Sharif family, wrote that the prosecution was unanimous in its opinion that, for various (fatal) illegalities committed during the course of investigation, the quashment was unexceptionable.

The then NAB Prosecutor General Accountability (PGA) in 2015 told the chairman in black and white that first a division bench of the Lahore High Court had quashed the reference unanimously but one judge had dissented on the issue of reinvestigation of the case and later the referee judge had decided that the case could not be reinvestigated after quashment of the reference. The PGA then wrote that on account of quashment of reference, all the three LHC judges were unanimous while only one supported reinvestigation of the case which made a case for an appeal but ‘before the chairman made his decision whether to file an appeal or not as he should consider what chances of success NAB would have in the case even if NAB was successful on appeal and was allowed to reinvestigate e.g. the fact that the case is approx 15 years old, the elder Sharif is now deceased, whether such a reinvestigation would be a good use of NAB time and resources, whether a reinvestigation would be perceived as witch hunting/victimisation which would only bring a bad name to NAB and damage its credibility.’

NAB’s Additional Prosecutor General Accountability, M Akbar Tarar had put up the file to the then PGA on 27-05-2014 mentioning that the LHC had decided the matter on legal premise which had to be ultimately prevailed. He supported the opinion that NAB might not assail the impugned judgment before the SC.