Nawaz’s cousins to be indicted in loan case

Bureau Report

LAHORE: A banking court on Friday summoned cousins of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif on November 20 for indicting them in the cases related to defaulting on bank loans worth Rs700 million.
Banking Court Judge Munir Ahmad Joiya conducted the hearing of the petitions filed by banks against the cousins of the former premier Nawaz Sharif for defaulting on loans worth Rs700 million which had allegedly been acquired for Kashmir Sugar Mills and Ittefaq Sugar Mills.
The court summoned the accused persons on November 20 for their indictment in the cases.
Earlier on September 24, a banking court had issued non-bailable arrest warrants to the accused of not complying with the orders in cases against them for allegedly defaulting on bank loans.
In August, a banking court had expressed resentment over the cousins of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif for failing to appear in the hearings of the cases against them.
Judge Munir Joya had warned that the accused persons’ identity cards, passports, and bank accounts will be blocked if they do not appear in court in a personal capacity. For the last ten months, they have been getting the case adjourned through their lawyers without showing up, he observed.
Adjourning the case again, the court had ruled that it is giving Shahid Shafi, Tariq Shafi, Javed Shafi, Ali Pervaiz and Ibrahim Tariq a last chance to appear before it.
Tariq Shafi, Javed Shafi and others had been nominated in the petition filed by the banks. It stated that the loans were not being cleared by the accused persons for many years. It sought orders for initiating legal action against the nominated person.