NAB ex-chairman stands vindicated in Hudaibiya Mills case

ISLAMABAD: National Accountability Bureau (NAB) former chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry stands vindicated after the Supreme Court on Friday dismissed Bureau’s appeal against LHC judgement in Hudaibiya Papers Mills case, reveal family sources of ex-chairman.

The sources close to NAB former chairman say that the stance Qamar Zaman Chaudhry took in 2014 has been upheld by the SC, which vindicates him as he was grilled in Panama Papers case and upon pressure from an important personality, NAB decided to file an appeal in the case against Sharifs.

Reference in Hudaibiya Paper Mills case was filed in 2000 by former president Pervez Musharraf government and initial reference did not contain Nawaz Sharif’s name but later General (R) Khalid Maqbool was asked by Musharraf to include Nawaz Sharif’s name which was done as ordered. The Sharifs on return from exile had filed a case in Lahore High Court to quash the Hudaibiya Papers Mills case and the division bench of the LHC had agreed to quash the reference but there was a tie on allowing the re-investigation of the case. Upon which, a referee judge was appointed, who gave a decision in favour of the Sharifs in 2014. And the then NAB Prosecution Wing, the Prosecutor General KK Agha (now a judge of Sindh High Court) and Additional Prosecutor General Akbar Tarar, had written that an appeal against the LHC would not yield any fruits for the NAB. At this, Qamar Zaman Chaudhry decided not to file the appeal in the case.

The sources close to NAB ex-chairman told The News that the recent tirade launched at a public gathering by Imran Khan against NAB ex-chairman was completely unwarranted and uncalled for because the SC has validated Qamar’s stance in Hudaibiya Papers Mills case. “It is completely unethical in light of the fact that petition of Imran Khan against appointment of NAB ex-chairman was declared frivolous by the SC and therefore was rejected. All allegations leveled in the petition were rejected and thrown out but Imran Khan continues to cast aspersions and takes advantage of his proximity to press and media”, said the sources adding: “Now that the SC has vindicated NAB ex-chairman’s stance in Hudaibiya Papers Mills case, Imran Khan’s public stance against him automatically becomes redundant. Bringing national institutions into disrepute for subjective considerations adversely affects working,” said the sources adding that maturity and sagacity demand a stop to such mudslinging.

The record of the NAB in Hudaibiya Papers Mills case, reveals that 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 2014 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 approximately 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. The same has happened in the SC on Friday.