Islamabad: A three-member Supreme Court (SC) bench formed to hear National Accountability Bureau (NAB) appeal to reopen Hudaibiya Papers Mills against Sharif family was dissolved on Monday and a new bench will be formed. The bench was disbanded after Justice Asif Saeed Khosa recused himself from hearing the matter, saying that he was given the case due to office’s mistake.
He continued: “It seems that the office has not read my verdict on Panama Leaks case. I wrote 14 paragraphs over Hudaibiya Papers Mills in the April 20 decision.” Earlier, Chief Justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar had formed a three-member bench headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa that also included Justice Dost Mohammad and Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel over Hudaibiya Papers Mills case. The bench was scheduled to conduct proceedings on Monday.
On September 20, NAB filed a petition in the Supreme Court against Lahore High Court verdict to close the Hudaibiya Paper Mills case as the Sharifs were cleared in this and Raiwind Assets references. Awami Muslim League (AML) chief Sheikh Rashid Ahmed had submitted a petition in SC, stating that on July 21, amid hearing of the Panama Papers case, NAB had assured the court to submit reply in seven days on Hudaibiya case but it failed to do so within the specified time.
