Hudaibiya Paper Mills case hearing under way in SC

Supreme Court (SC) commenced on Tuesday hearing regarding National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) appeal to reopen Hudaibiya Paper Mills case against Sharif family.

During the hearing, Justice Mushir Alam asked the NAB's prosecutor for the references to which the prosecutor replied that he had not found the reference and commented that it is not relevant for this hearing. The judge replied that if he had not bought the references then what was the purpose of today's hearing, local media reported.

A new three-member bench, headed by Justice Mushir Alam and comprising Justice Qazi Faez Isa and Justice Mazhar Aalm Miankhel, is hearing the case.

SC Justice Asif Saeed refuses to hear Hudaibiya Paper Mills case

On November 13, SC Justice Asif Saeed Khosa had recused himself from the case saying that he had received the case by the registrar by mistake.The bench had then been dissolved.

Justice Khosa is the judge who gave a verdict of 14 paragraphs regarding Hudaibiya Paper Mills in the Panama Papers. In the verdict, he had ordered NAB to reopen the case.

On September 20, NAB pleaded SC to dismiss Lahore High Court decision to end the Hudaibiya Paper Mills 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.