The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Thursday approved three corruption references against the members of Sharif family and one against finance minister Ishaq Dar. The top anti-graft body''s officials were given a go-ahead to file references in accountability courts in a day or two in compliance with Supreme Court''s judgment in the Panama Papers case.
An official of NAB said the decision to this effect was taken in a NAB Executive Board Meeting (EBM) presided over by Chairman NAB Qamar Zaman Chaudhry. The NAB EBM meeting was held in compliance with Supreme Court''s July 28, 2017 judgment regarding the Panama Papers case, he said.
The apex court had given six weeks to the top anti-graft body from the date of the court''s order to file the references in the accountability courts of Rawalpindi and Islamabad. The accountability courts will decide the aforesaid references within six months from the date of filing. He said the meeting approved three references against former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, his three children - Maryam Nawaz, Hussain Nawaz - and Hassan Nawaz and his son-in-law Captain Mohammad Safdar and one against finance minister Dar and decided to file these in the accountability courts of Islamabad and Rawalpindi.
The official said the references were prepared on the basis of the materials collected and referred by the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) in its report and some other material collected by NAB during the course of investigation.
He said the three references approved against Nawaz Sharif and family during the meeting include a) reference relating to the Avenfield Properties (Flat No.16 and 16-A, 17 and 17-A Avenfield House, Park Lane, London, United Kingdom); b) a reference relating to establishment of Azizia Steel Company and Hill Metal Company, Jeddah; and the third reference is about the establishment of companies including Flagship Investment Ltd, Hartstone Properties Ltd, Que Holdings Ltd, Quint Eaton Place 2 Ltd, Quint Saloane Ltd, Quaint Ltd, Flagship Securities Ltd, Quint Gloucestor Place Ltd, Quint Paddington Ltd, Flagship Developments Ltd, Alanna Services Ltd, Lankin SA (BVI), Chadron Inc, Ansbacher Inc, Coomber Inc and Capital FZE (Dubai).
The meeting approved its fourth reference, which was against Ishaq Dar for possessing assets beyond his known sources of income. He said that references related to Azizia Steel Mills and the nearly establishment of companies when prepared by NAB Rawalpindi while NAB Lahore prepared a reference on the Sharif family''s Avenfield apartments in London and another against Dar.
The official said the meeting was also attended by Deputy Chairman NAB, Prosecutor General NAB, Director General (DG) Operations and DG NAB Rawalpindi. Meanwhile, a petition has been filed against Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pervaiz Khattak in accountability commission. It has been filed by Pakistan People''s Party MPA Zia-ul-Afridi, who was previously affiliated with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.
In his petition, Zia-ul-Afridi contended that the appointments of managing director of Bank of Khyber and CEO Pakhtunkhwa Energy Development Organisation (Pedo) are illegal. Both the appointments were approved by Pervaiz Khattak, therefore, a strict action should be taken against the CM, the petitioner added.
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