FAZAL SHER

ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Friday filed four corruption references against former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, his three children and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar in the Accountability Court in compliance with Supreme Court’s verdict in the Panama Papers case.

The investigators of the country’s top anti-graft body submitted references with the registrar of the Accountability Court amid tight security arrangements. Two vehicles ferried documents packed in 16 cartons to the court.

NAB filed three references against former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, his three children - Maryam Nawaz, Hussain Nawaz and Hassan Nawaz – his son-in-law Captain Mohammad Safdar and one against finance minister Dar.

The three references filed 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). NAB has also filed reference against Ishaq Dar for possessing assets beyond his known sources of income.

Filing the reference before the special the court, chairman NAB Qamar Zaman Chaudhry submitted that according to the final report of Joint Investigation Report (JIT) and the NAB proceedings at the Bureau, it is established that the accused persons have failed to justify sources of funds for establishment/possession of the above-mentioned assets.

He further submitted that the accused persons were given ample opportunities to explain and provide evidence regarding the accumulation of these assets. They did not join the investigation before NAB on the pretext of a review petition that they had already filed before Supreme Court against its July 28 judgment.

According to the NAB chairman, the requests for Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) have been forwarded by the JIT and the responses of the same are still awaited which will be placed before the court, when received from the foreign jurisdiction. So under this scenario, the references may be treated as an interim reference.

According to investigation proceedings and findings so far, he said, it is established that the accused persons in connivance with each other have committed corruption as defined under section 9 (a), (v) and (xii) of NAB ordinance 1999 punishable under section 10 of NAO 1999 and scheduled thereto. The investigation report along with final JIT report and annexure, list of witnesses and documents are attached “herewith” which are an integral part of this reference.

Sources said that finance minister Ashaq Dar is facing section-14C of the NAB Ordinance 1999 in the reference which deals with possession of assets beyond known sources of income.

The NAB on Thursday last approved four references in Executive Board Meeting (EBM) presided over by the NAB chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry in compliance with Supreme Court’s July 28, 2017 judgment.