NAB references: Nawaz Sharif appears before accountability court

ISLAMABAD (92 News) – Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Captain (r) Safdar have appeared before the accountability court (AC) on Tuesday (today) in mega corruption references filed against him by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in line with the Supreme Court directive in the Panamagate case. The accountability court (AC) judge Muhammad Bashir will resume hearing of the three corruption references against the Sharif family. Stringent security arrangements have been made on the occasion, while several party leaders including Khawaja Saad Rafique, Raja Zafarul Haq, Talal Chaudhry, Daniyal Aziz and Asif Kirmani and hundreds of workers are also present outside the court. In the last hearing, the court had adjourned the hearing until today after Islamabad High Court (IHC) directed the accountability court to again hear Nawaz's plea seeking to club the three references against him. The AC directed to present the copy of detailed decision of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on petitions filed by the former premier Nawaz Sharif seeking to club all corruption references filed against him by the country’s anti-graft watchdog. Sharif returned to Pakistan from London last week after weeks of speculation. He had been staying in the UK capital while his wife underwent cancer treatment. Last month, the court had issued bailable arrest warrants after the former PM failed to show up for previous hearings. Previously, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had filed three cases of corruption and money laundering against Sharif, his family members and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar in the Islamabad Accountability Court following the verdict. The anti-graft body NAB had frozen the bank accounts and seized properties of Sharif and his family members to put pressure on them to appear before the court. The Sharifs have denied any wrongdoing and have labelled the corruption proceedings against them as politically motivated. Two of Nawaz’s sons are also due to appear before the NAB court, along with Finance Minister Ishaq Dar. Nawaz was disqualified by the Supreme Court in July for not declaring a source of income that he disputes receiving. Pakistan’s top court also ordered a wide-ranging NAB investigation and trial into Sharif family members. The Supreme Court specified that the trial be concluded within six months by NAB, which has in the past been derided as toothless because rich and powerful politicians were seldom convicted.