ISLAMABAD: The Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court will hear a 2007 suo motu case on billions of rupees loans written off from 1971 to 2009 Tuesday (December 3). A three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar on July 30, 2018 had issued notices to presidents/ CEOs of those banks, which have written off loans and inform how much amount exactly outstanding against the borrowers.
On January 8, 2019, the bench was informed that out of 222 borrowers only 39 individuals/ companies/ organisation were willing to avail option 1. The bench, therefore, decided to constitute a Special Bench for examining the cases of rest of the borrowers. The court gave loan defaulters two options; first to deposit with this Court an amount equal to 75 per cent of the differential between the “amount sanctioned” and “amount recovered”. If they do not avail first option then their cases will be referred to the Banking Court. A three-member Inquiry Commission, headed by Justice (retired) Syed Jamshed Ali, a former judge of SC, constituted in June 2011 for the recovery of written off loans from 1971 onward and to compile a report, submitted its report in February 2013, according to that Rs87 billion were written off in 38 years – between 1971 to 2009.
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According to report Habib Bank Limited waived off loans in 94 cases, National Bank of Pakistan 65, Industrial Development Bank of Pakistan 15, NIB 5, Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited 25, United Bank Limited 3, Pak Libya 5, SME 7 and Bank of Khyber 3.
It mentioned that loans worth Rs2.38 billon were waived off between 1971 and 1991 whereas loans worth Rs84.62 billion were waived off between 1992 and 2009. The report not only recommended action against those who got their loans written off but also against the bankers and the officials who helped in getting the loans waived off.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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