Islamabad: Pakistan’s ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was on Friday indicted by an anti-graft court in a third case of corruption related to his investments abroad and in other offshore companies.
Mr Sharif was indicted in Flagship Investment Limited reference.
On Thursday, he was indicted in Azizia Steel Mills and Avenfield properties references by the same court.
During the proceedings headed by Justice Mohammad Bashir, the court declared ex-Prime Minister’s sons Hussain Nawaz and Hassan Nawaz as absconders in a reference regarding a dozen offshore companies in United Kingdom (UK) and United Arab Emirates (UAE).
According to the charge-sheet, the court was told that Mr Sharif’s sons were his dependents in 1989 and 1990. However, ex-PM submitted assets details for Hassan from 1990 to 1995. It further read that Mr Sharif was chairman not shareholder of FZE Company that was formed in 2001 in UAE whereas flagship company was launched in the same year in London. Mr Sharif held important positions in public office including Punjab chief minister and the Prime Minister and made assets by using his children’s names.
Hassan and Hussain Nawaz had also failed to satisfy the authorities over their sources of income, it stated.
There is a contradiction in the statements of accused and evidence provided, the charge-sheet clarified.
The representative of Nawaz Sharif, Zaafir Khan, denied all allegations. The court has summoned Inland Revenue Service official Jahangir Ahmed as witness in the case and adjourned the hearing till October 26.
On Thursday, the accountability court indicted Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz, and son-in-law Mohammed Safdar in the National Accountability Bureau’s Avenfield reference against them while the ex-PM was also charged in Azizia Steel Mills reference afterwards.
The accused pleaded ‘not guilty’ to the charges and termed them as groundless, baseless and unfounded. The lawyer further said that the charges were being framed on a report that is incomplete and controversial.
On the other hand, Nawaz Sharif will be returning home on October 24. He said that there is no other example of such indictment given during absence.
The former premier declared the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) made to investigate Sharif family’s London properties as biased.
