RAWALPINDI - The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Prosecutor will start it arguments before the Lahore High Court (LHC) Rawalpindi bench today (Wednesday) in the three corruption references it filed against Sharif brothers and other family members.
Earlier, a two-member bench of LHC comprising Justice Khawaja Imtiaz Ahmed and Justice Muhammad Farrukh Irfan Khan, while resuming the proceeding in the corruption references on Tuesday, ordered the Salman Aslam Butt Advocate, representing Mian Nawaz Sharif and Mian Shehbaz Sharif, to conclude his arguments by Wednesday.
LHC Rawalpindi Bench Justice Khawaja Imtiaz Ahmed, during the arguments, remarked that petitioners were rich enough to pay back the loan they got from National Bank of Pakistan (NBP).
It is pertinent to mention here that the Ittifaq Foundries owes Rs 3.8 billion to the bank as the loan was obtained through an agreement during the last tenure of PML-N. Salman Butt Advocate, in response, said that his clients had ever been ready to pay back the loan and they had offered the foundries for sale. He at the same time said the money in banks was not the public money.
The lawyer further argued that PML-N leaders never defaulted willfully as alleged by the NAB. The petitioners were ready to payback the loan after selling their foundries and had invited the bids in this regard. Therefore, the court may annul the reference, he added.
He said that the prosecution made undue delay in resuming the references and it was against the fundamental right to delay the trial for indefinite times as the references were adjourned sine die in 2000 and till then there had been no proceedings.
During an interaction with media men, Salman Aslam Butt said that the property owned by former premier Mian Nawaz Sharif and Chief Minister Punjab Mian Shehbaz Sharif was attached by the accountability trial court and they had decided to sell the assets in Ittifaq Foundries reference to pay back the loans.