Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial was hearing several petitions about the auction of the Ittefaq Foundry''s subsidiaries Ittefaq Brothers and Brother Steel Mill to adjust unpaid loan of billions of rupees. He also directed the buyer of the Ittefaq Foundry''s units, Al-Rehmat Group, to submit the schedule of payment on the next hearing.
The committee constituted for the sale of units in its report alleged that one of its members, Chartered Accountant Khwaja Abdul Qadeer, disappeared after misappropriating Rs 40 million. The CJ also directed the committee to verify the record of Qadeer from Nadra and produce him before the court. The Sharif family''s counsel, Ashtar Ausaf, stated that five out of seven shareholder families of the Ittefaq Foundry including the incumbent Prime Minister had given their consent to sale. However, he said, the view of the sixth family was yet to come while the seventh, namely Mian Aslam Bashir, had objected to the sale.
A consortium of eight banks had sanctioned a collective loan of Rs 3.11 billion to Ittefaq Group of industries between 1982 and 1998. In most cases the loan was not paid back and the banks added the markup charges to the actual credit. A single bench had accepted a petition of the banks for the sale of Ittefaq Foundries, Brothers Steel at Kot Lakhpat, Ittefaq Brothers at Shahdara and Ilyas Enterprises at Bund Road Lahore. These units were surrendered by Nawaz Sharif''s family against bank liabilities.