Non-payment of loan by Shehbaz family mills: LHC seeks arguments on maintainability of petition

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Friday sought arguments on the maintainability of a petition of the Bank of Punjab (BoP) seeking recovery of a financial loan allegedly defaulted by Al-Arabia Sugar Mills, owned by the family of Leader of Opposition in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif.

At the outset of the preliminary hearing, a counsel of the bank stated before the court that the sugar mills had obtained a loan of Rs740 million. He said the mills failed to pay back the loan within the stipulated time despite the bank issued it repeated notices for the payment.

The counsel asked the court to allow the petition of the bank filed under Financial Recovery Ordinance 2001 and order the sugar mills to clear its liability. Justice Jawad Hassan adjourned the hearing till next week and directed the bank’s counsel to come up with arguments on the maintainability of the petition.