A division bench of the Supreme Court on Tuesday directed National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to give details on Haris Steel Mills' sold assets to Salvage Committee constituted for the Bank of Punjab loan scam. The committee is required to produce report before the court within three weeks. The bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry was hearing identical petitions titled the Bank of Punjab versus Sheikh Muhammad Afzal and others.
The bench allowed Salvage Committee to auction the assets of defaulters of the scam and submit in the court a detailed report relating to the probe. The ex-counsel for the bank, Khawaja Haris, Prosecutor General NAB K K Agha and counsel for the Haris Steel Mills Khawaja Tariq Rahim appeared before the bench.
During the hearing, Khawaja Haris showed inability to represent Bank of Punjab. According to him, he has asked the bank to arrange another counsel. However, he informed the bench that the bank was co-operating to provide the required details in relation to the scam.
On the occasion, Agha assured the bench that he would not take any step which may affect court's orders in the case, suggesting that all the parties in the Bank of Punjab loan scam could resolve the issues with mutual consent. Khawaja Tariq Rahim informed the bench that a plea bargaining in the case was under way. The CJP, however, observed that no plea bargaining was allowed without court's permission. The hearing was adjourned for three weeks.
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