Loan default: Court again issues arrest warrants for Sharif cousins

LAHORE: A banking court on Friday once again issued arrest warrants for the cousins of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif for failing to appear in a case against them for allegedly defaulting on bank loans.

The court directed police to arrest and produce Javed Shafi and Tariq Shafi at the next hearing on December 17. It turned down a plea of the accused to grant them exemption from personal appearance in today’s hearing.

Earlier, the court had given Shahid Shafi, Tariq Shafi, Javed Shafi, Ali Pervaiz and Ibrahim Tariq a last chance to appear before it.

A lawyer, who represented different banks, stated that the case was instituted against the accused persons for allegedly defaulting on loans worth Rs700 million obtained for Ittifaq and Kashmir sugar mills.

It was submitted that the former premier’s cousins were served multiple notices by the banks to pay back the loan but to no avail. The court, therefore, was requested to order action against them as per relevant laws.