FAZAL SHER

ISLAMABAD: National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Monday decided to file three references against the Sharif family and one against former Finance Minister Ishaq Dar in compliance with the Supreme Court judgment in the Panama Papers case.

An official source said the decision to this effect was taken at the NAB Executive Board Meeting (EBM,) presided over by Chairman NAB Qamar Zaman Chaudhry. “The meeting reviewed the Panama Papers case judgment in detail and decided to file three references against the Sharif family including former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, his three children — Maryam Nawaz, Hussain Nawaz and Hassan Nawaz - and his son-in-law Capt Muhammad Safdar (retd) and one against former Finance Minister Dar in the accountability courts of Islamabad and Rawalpindi within a period of six weeks from the date of judgment.”

Sources said the bureau has handed over the responsibility of filing references against the Sharifs to Director General (DG) NAB Balochistan, Irfan Naeem Mangi who was also part of the joint investigation team (JIT) that investigated the Panama Papers case.

A NAB official said that references will be prepared on the basis of the material collected and referred by the JIT in its report and some other material as may be available with Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and NAB having a nexus with the assets in the mentioned cases or which might subsequently become available including the material that may become available in pursuant to the Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) requests sent by the JIT to different jurisdictions.

He said that three references which NAB will file against the Sharif family 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) reference relating to establishment of Azizia Steel Mill and Hill Metals Company; c) and reference related to 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 Gloucester 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 official said that NAB will file fourth reference against Dar for possessing assets beyond known sources of income. The assets of Dar increased from Rs 9.11 million to Rs 831.70 million within a short period of time.

He said that the NAB also considered taking action against Sheikh Saeed, Musa Ghani, Kashif Masood Qazi, Javaid Kiyani and Saeed Ahmed as the Supreme Court had directed the NAB to include them and other people in the proceedings who have direct or indirect nexus with the actions of the Sharif family. The officers concerned were directed for an efficient and professional handling of the entire process in the laid down time limit, he added.

The official said the meeting was also attended by deputy chairman NAB, prosecutor general NAB, director general (operations) and DG NAB Rawalpindi.