Rasheed moves SC for re-investigation of Hudaibiya Paper Mills case

ISLAMABAD: Awami Muslim League (AML) Chairman Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed on Monday approached the Supreme Court against the national anti-graft watchdog for failing to file an appeal in the court for re-investigation of Hudaibiya Papers Mills case.

Sheikh Rasheed petitioned the apex court, requesting it to order the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to re-investigate the case.

He submitted in the petition that the NAB chairman had assured the top court on July 21 to file the appeal within a week, and it made his statement as part of its order, but he has failed to do so in defiance of his assurance.

Of late, he said, he sent a notice to the chairman to comply with court orders, but he failed to respond.

Quoting the media reports, the petitioner said, the anti-graft body had decided not to file the appeal. A Joint Investigation Team constituted by the Supreme Court to investigate the Sharif family’s offshore properties held that Hudaibiya Papers Mills case warranted further investigation and accused ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar of whitening the money and taking it out of the country.

Rasheed said the JIT produced corroborative evidences against Sharif family with regard to money laundering, which they did not deny. Nevertheless, the NAB was dragging its feet to seek court’s permission to reopen the case, he added.

He claimed that the NAB chairman and its prosecutor general were under influence of powerful elites, and requested the court to initiate contempt of court against them for disobeying court order.

The Musharaf government had launched an investigation against PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif and Shehbaz Sharif back in 2000 for their alleged involvement in money-laundering. Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, who is a close aide and relative of the Sharifs, had given a confessional statement before a magistrate, alleging that Sharif brothers used the Hudaibya Paper Mills as cover for money laundering during the late 1990s.

Dar later retracted his statement and claimed the statement was gleaned under duress.