LAHORE: The Lahore High Court has ordered an auction of 759 kanals of mortgaged properties belonging to Brother Sugar Mills, owned by close relatives of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

Justice Shams Mahmood Mirza scheduled the auction dates for nine properties on April 25, May 2, May 9, and May 16.

A private bank had filed a recovery suit against the sugar mills, which was declared a defaulter in 2016 due to non-payment of a loan.

A counsel for the bank told the court that the proposed proclamation of sale has already been submitted and the right of the judgement debtors (defendants) to file

objections has also been struck off since December 2024.

He said the defendants have not been appearing before the LHC for quite some time.

The judge approved the proclamation of sale filed by the court auctioneers.

Mian Aslam Bashir, Umar Idrees, the first cousins of the prime minister, and others had provided guarantees for the loan.

The auction is being conducted to recover Rs208.378 million from the defaulters.

The mortgaged properties including farms houses are situated in Kasur and Lahore.

Published in Dawn, March 16th, 2025