London court’s 1999 decision proves Sharifs own Park Lane flats

ISLAMABAD: The London High Court’s 1999 decision in the Hudaibiya Papers Mills loans acquired through the Al-Towfeek Investment Fund is the most convincing and irrefutable documentary evidence proving the Sharifs’ association with the London flats which the prime minister’s children claim to have purchased in 2006.

Though the children of PM have been trying to justify that they had purchased the London flats after selling their steel mill in Jeddah, the London court in 1999 had proceeded against Mian Shahbaz Sharif, Mian Abbas Sharif and Mian Muhammad Sharif for defaulting on a loan obtained from the Al-Towfeek Investment Fund in the name of Hudaibiya Paper Mills and had attached four properties of the Sharifs.

Those four properties are the same which the PM’s son says he had bought in 2006 along with offshore companies. The Sharif family in its response has clearly mentioned that after selling the business in Saudi Arabia in 2006, the money was transferred through legal channels to the UK where the offshore companies and London flats were bought.

However, the UK’s high court decision of 1999 proves it beyond an iota of doubt that the Sharif family was the declared owner of the London flats because it obtained a loan facility from a UK-based investment fund by pledging these properties with the fund. The Sharif family’s response so far has mainly remained focused on the post 2006 transactions while the family has so far tried to avoid discussing the details of offshore companies from 1993 to 2006. How will the Sharif family justify their claims of not owning the offshore companies and London flats prior to 2006 is yet to be seen.

Perhaps, the London High Court’s decision of 1999 is the only document which can put the Sharifs in trouble. Before the London High Court, there were four defendants: Hudabiya Paper Mills Ltd (first defendant), Mian Mohammad Shahbaz Sharif (second defendant), Mian Mohammad Sharif (third defendant) and Mian Mohammad Abbas Sharif (fourth defendant) and the plaintiff was the Al-Towfeek Investment Funds Ltd.

The London High Court on February 5, 1999 ruled: “It is hereby ordered that: 1) the defendants’ application under RSC Order 12 Rule 8 be refused. 2) Costs of this application be paid by the defendants to the plaintiff to be taxed if not agreed.”

On March 16, 1999, the court delivered its judgment ordering Hudabiya and the three other defendants to repay the loan. The amount due was not paid and on November 5, 1999, the court by a one-page order ordered that the properties of the Sharifs be attached. The judgment said that upon reading the witness statements of Shezi Nackvi filed on the 26th October, 1999, and 5th November 1999 whereby it appeared that by a judgment made on the 16th March 1999 in the High Court of Justice, Queen’s Bench Division, the defendants were ordered to pay to the plaintiff the loan money but till date it remained due and that the defendants have a beneficial interest in the assets specified in the schedule thereto.

“It is ordered by Master Trench that unless sufficient cause to the contrary be shown before a judge in chambers in Room No. E101, Royal Courts of Justice, Strand, London, the second and third and the fourth defendant’s interests in the said assets, to the extent of their respective interests, shall and it is ordered in the meantime it do, stand charged with the payment of loan due on the said judgment. And it is further ordered that this application and all documents supporting it be served on the companies named in para 16 of the first witness statement of Shezi Nackvi, as to which leave is granted to serve them in the British Virgin Islands, and also the creditors named in paragraph 4 of the said Mr Nackvi’s second witness statement, as to which leave is granted to serve the same in Pakistan or in the state or states where any of them are registered.”

The schedule lists the four properties owned in London by the Sharifs: 16, 16A, 17 and 17A Avenfield House, at 117-128 Park Lane, London.

Hussain Nawaz, son of the prime minister, has told the media in his repeated statements that only after selling a steel mill in Saudia Arabia in 2006, he bought two offshore companies Nielsen Enterprises Limited and Nescoll Limited and then purchased flats number 16, 17, 17A of Park Lane London in the names of these offshore companies. He said that he or any member of his family never owned these offshore companies before 2006.

According to the UK government official documents, following are the details of these flats and their ownership since 1993.

Flat 16, Avenfield House, Park Lane, London, Registered Owner: NIELSEN ENTERPRISES LIMITED care of Messrs Dibb Lupton Broomhead (reference LJR), 125 London Wall, London EC2Y 5AE. Title Number: NGL338285. Flat was registered in the name of Nielsen on July 31, 1995. The official documents say that flat only comprises the portion on 3rd floor of the building and property was made in 1978.

Flat 16A, Avenfield House, Park Lane, London, Registered Owner: NIELSEN ENTERPRISES LIMITED care of Messrs Dibb Lupton Broomhead (reference LJR), 125 London Wall, London EC2Y 5AE. Title Number: NGL351184. Flat was registered in the name of Nielsen on July 31, 1995. The official documents say that flat only comprises the portion on 3rd floor of the building and property was made in 1979.

Flat 17, Avenfield House, Park Lane, London, Registered Owner: NESCOLL LIMITED care of Dibb Lupton Broomhead, of 125 London Wall, London EC2Y 5AE. Title Number: NGL342976. Flat was registered in the name of Nielsen on June 1, 1993. The official documents say that flat only comprises the portion on 3rd floor of the building and property was made in 1978.

Flat 17, Avenfield House, Park Lane, London, Registered Owner: NESCOLL LIMITED care of Dibb Lupton Broomhead, of 125 London Wall, London EC2Y 5AE. Title Number: NGL342977. Flat was registered in the name of Nielsen on July 23, 1996. The official documents say property was made in 1978.

The offshore companies Nielsen and Nescoll owned these Park Lane London flats since 1993. How did the Sharif family pledge the flats with a UK bank in 1995 to obtain a financial facility without owning the offshore companies?