The Supreme Court has rejecting the appeals of NAB against Lahore High Court verdict, has issued orders to release assets of Sharif family.
A three-member bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice
Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and comprising Justice Khilji Arif Hussain
and Justice Tariq Parvez heard the appeals filed by National
Accountability Bureau (NAB) against Sharif family on Wednesday.
The cases were related to Hudabiya Paper Mills, Hamza Spinning Mills,
Ramzan Sugar Mills and others including confiscation of property.
The stay order given by the Lahore High Court in the case was
challenged in the Supreme Court. Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif
has also been made party in the appeals.
Akram Shaikh Advocate appeared on behalf of Sharif family in the
case. Following the strong admonishment by the Supreme Court earlier
this month, NAB has sprung into action on the cases reopened after the
scraping of National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) by the apex court.
Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry observed that NAB cannot take hold of their property against the punishment.
The court told that Nawaz Sharif’s punishment is over and, therefore, NAB has no right to seize Sharif brothers’ property.
NAB Prosecutor General KK Agha appeared before the court and failed
to provide any agreement signed between Nawaz Sharif and the government.
Last year in December, NAB had appealed in the apex court to
challenge the Lahore High Court’s (LHC) October 4, 2011 verdict for
returning their asset where Agha told the court that NAB wanted to hold
the property of Sharif brothers until the case was resolved.
Responding to which, Chief Justice Iftikhar remarked that NAB had no
authority to hold the property until a reference could be presented
against the Sharif brothers.
The court, in his ruling after hearing the National Accountability
Bureau plea, ordered the authorities to unfreeze the assets of Pakistan
Muslim League-N chief, Mian Nawaz Sharif, his wife Begum Kulsum Nawaz
and brother Shahbaz Sharif.
