Panama papers case: NAB recommends seizure of Nawaz Sharif's family assets

Islamabad: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Lahore, has forwarded four references, prepared against the Sharif family, to its headquarters in Islamabad proposing seizure of the entire assets of ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his children Hussain, Hassan and Maryam Nawaz and freezing of their bank accounts.

[caption id=“attachment_3952645” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif. Reuters[/caption] The references were sent to Pakistan’s anti-corruption body’s headquarters after the bureau’s regional board gave consent to all the decisions. The meeting was chaired by director general NAB Lahore Major Shehzad Salim (Retd), the News International reported on Friday. The bureau’s regional office also proposed action against finance minister Ishaq Dar besides confiscating all his moveable and immoveable property, the report said. The board also proposed that Dar’s name be placed on the Exist Control List (ECL). NAB Lahore had already recommended that names of all the members of Sharif’s family be put on the ECL. It is expected that NAB Rawalpindi will also give consent for action against the Sharif family soon, sources told the daily and added that after approval from NAB Rawalpindi, references will be filed formally in the accountability court. On 28 July , a five-member bench of the Supreme Court disqualified Sharif from office following a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) probe that exposed illegal family wealth stashed abroad. The apex court had directed the anti-corruption body to file four reference cases by 8 September  against Sharif, his children and Dar. These relate to the Sharif family’s four upscale flats in London and 16 offshore companies held by the family. The reference against Dar was over owning assets beyond his means.