SC rejects NAB's plea to adjourn Hudaibiya Paper Mills case

The Supreme Court (SC) rejected on Monday the National Accountability Bureau's (NAB) plea to adjourn the hearing because the office of the NAB prosecutor general is vacant.

A three-member bench, headed by Justice Mushir Alam and comprising Justice Qazi Faez Isa and Justice Mazhar Aalm Miankhel, hearing the Hudaibiya Paper Mills case made the rejection.

On Saturday, NAB had filed an application to the SC to adjourn the court proceedings till its new prosecutor general is appointed, as Waqas Qadeer Dar retired in November.

The court dismissed the request, deeming it as an illegitimate excuse to delay the court proceedings. The court also directed NAB not to mock the court, local media reported. “All cases are of importance to us,” Justice Qazi Faez Isa said.

Hudaibiya Paper Mills case hearing under way in SC

During the last hearing on November 28, the court had directed NAB to submit complete and original record of the Hudaibiya Paper Mills case on December 11 (today).

On September 20, NAB pleaded SC to dismiss Lahore High Court's decision to end the Hudaibiya Paper Mills case and reopen the case as new evidence had been exposed in the Panama case joint investigation team report.

Deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, their mother Shamim Akhtar, younger brother late Abbas Sharif, Nawaz’s children, Maryam and Hussain Nawaz, Hamza Shahbaz, Hudaibiya Paper Mills Ltd and others have been named as respondents in the appeal.