Sharifs face four graft cases

Islamabad: Pakistan’s National Accountability Board (NAB) filed four corruption references against the Sharif family and finance minister Ishaq Dar in Islamabad’s accountability court on Friday.

The inquiry team of NAB arrived at the court in Sector F-11 to submit the references with the registrar of Judge Mohammad Bashir.

The documents, packed in 16 cartons, were brought on two vehicles, whereas the records of Azizia Steel Mills, London flats and 16 offshore companies had also been made part of the investigation.

NAB spokesperson overtly rejected media reports that the registrar had raised objections, citing incomplete photocopies, and said all references had been forwarded to trial court.

NAB’s executive board on Thursday had approved to file three references against deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, his sons, daughter Maryam Nawaz, son-in-law Mohammed Safdar while one against finance minister.

Fourteen -year imprisonment hovers over the Sharif family and finance Minister Ishaq Dar if the NAB rules out that violation of Section-9 of the NAB Ordinance 1999 has taken place.

Mr Dar is facing section-14C of the NAB Ordinance 1999, which deals with the possession of assets beyond known sources of income. If Mr Dar is proven guilty he could be handed over 14-year imprisonment.

Similarly, ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is facing sub-section 9A in three references. The aforementioned section deals with illegal money and exchange of gifts.

The country’s top court, in its July-28 verdict, had directed the accountability watchdog to file references against Sharif family and Mr Dar under the light of the startling revelations made by Panamagate Joint Investigation Team (JIT) during its 60-day inquiry.

The cases have been initiated after the Supreme Court on July 28 disqualified 67-year-old Sharif for dishonesty and ruled that corruption cases be filed against him and his children over the scandal.

The apex court had tasked the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to register corruption cases against him, his children, son-in-law and the finance minister within six weeks.

“The references were prepared on the basis of the material collected and referred to by the Joint Investigation Team (set up by Supreme Court) in its report and any other material collected by NAB during the course of investigation,” the NAB said.

The cases have been filed with anti-corruption court of Rawalpindi-Islamabad following the court orders before the end of the deadline of September 8, a NAB official said.

The cases were approved on Friday by NAB chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry at special meeting of the senior officials. One of the cases against Sharif, his children and Safdar is about purchase of four luxury flats in Park Lane area of London.

The second one is against Sharif and his son Hussain and is about setting up of Azizia Steel Company and Hill Metal Company. The third case is against Sharif and his two sons and is related to several private companies set up by the family and which have been already identified in the judgement of the court. The fourth came is against Dar for possessing assets beyond his known sources of income.