National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has decided to ask from the Supreme Court to allow reinvestigation of the Hudaibiya Paper Mills case.

It means that it may take another year for NAB to finalise its investigation and to file a reference in the accountability court, which again may take years to decide it.

The Prosecutor General of NAB also hinted in the Supreme Court on Friday that NAB was mulling over filing an appeal in the case.

Earlier, the Supreme Court had passed harsh remarks against NAB’s chairman for not filing an appeal in the SC against the decision of the Lahore High Court which not only quashed the reference but also ruled closure of the reinvestigation of the case.

The record of the NAB in Hudaibiya Papers Mills case against the Sharif family, reveals that NAB Chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry was told by the Bureau’s prosecution that it was not a fit case for an appeal because the only thing NAB could ask from the Supreme Court was a reinvestigation and “a reinvestigation would be perceived as witch hunting/victimisation which would only bring a bad name to NAB and damage its credibility”.

Qamar Zaman Chaudhry, in 2014 while deciding not to file an appeal against the Sharif family, wrote that the prosecution was unanimous in its opinion that, for various (fatal) illegalities committed during the course of investigation, the quashment was unexceptionable.