Nawaz asked to appear before NAB
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s main anticorruption watchdog has summoned former premier Nawaz Sharif and his sons Hussain and Has an to appear before investigators in Lahore on Friday in connection with graft allegations linked to a steel mill once owned by the Sharif family.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) also summoned Sharif’sclose aide, finance minister Is haqD ar, on August 23 in light of the Supreme Court’s orders that sent the former premier packing last month, local media reported.
On July 28, the Supreme Court disqualified Shari ff or being dishonest while declaring his assets. The top court also asked the NA B to file cases within six weeks against Sharif, his sons, son-inlaw Captain (retired) Muhammad Safdar and Dar for alleged money laundering and corruption.
The court’s ruling was issued in the case related to the Sharif family’ s offshore assets that were revealed in the Panama Papers leaks. Most of the cases referred to the NA B by the Supreme Court are related to steel and sugar mills started by the Sharif family and several offshore firms.
NAB officials were quoted by the media as saying that Sharif and his sons would be quizzed about the Al-Azizia Steel Mills case. The mill was started by the Sharif family but later sold to another businessman. An unnamed NAB official told the Dawn newspaper that this would be “the first of many cases” that the agency would probe.
The NAB has also sought assistance from foreign countries to probe cases against the Sharif family, Geo News reported.
Sharif has not yet decided whether he will appear for questioning. “Nawaz Sharif is considering boycotting the NAB proceedings because he think sit is very much likely that, like the Panama Papers case, he may not get justice in its case as well,” a senior PML-N leader told PTI.
The cases being taken up by the NAB could have serious implications for Sharif, especially since Pakistan is set to go to the polls next year.
His PML-N party remains the strongest political force in the country but any adverse outcomes in these cases could affect the party’s prospects.
NAB EXPEDITES CASE AGAINS TPPP’S ZARDARI
Pakistan People’s Party leader Asif Ali Zardari, will also face anti-corruption proceedings as the NAB has expedited the last pending case against him.
In the wake of the recent judgemen tag a inst Sharif, an anti- corruption court, with the consent of the NA B, has initiated daily hearing sin the case against Zardari that is related to the assets in Pakistan and abroad that he allegedly acquired through illegal means. The case was filed in 2001 and closed six years later under an amnesty granted by the regime of former military ruler Pervez Musharraf.