Anti-graft body freezes accounts of Sharif, family

lahore — Ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Friday suffered a major setback after country’s anti-graft body froze the bank accounts and seized the properties of him and his family members facing corruption and money laundering charges in the Panama Papers scandal.

Sharif, 67, stepped down after the Supreme Court disqualified him on July 28 from continuing in his office for dishonesty and ruled that corruption cases be filed against him and his children.

The Accountability Court in Islamabad, which is hearing the corruption cases against the Sharif family, on Friday summoned Sharif, his daughter Maryam and son-in-law Capt. (retd) Safdar to appear before it on September 26.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) pasted the summonses and property attachment notices on the Sharifs’ residence in Raiwind on the outskirts of Lahore.

Sharif, along with his children, is in London to be with his ailing wife Kalsoom who is undergoing treatment for throat cancer.

There is speculation in the Pakistani media that the Sharif family may not return to face the NAB corruption cases.

“We have written to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and commercial banks requesting them that since Sharif and his children and son-in-law Safdar are facing the NAB cases, their bank accounts may be cautioned (frozen),” an NAB official said on Friday.

He said the NAB has also written to the commissioner Islamabad, deputy commissioner Lahore, federal board of revenue, excise and tax department, the chairman security exchange commission of Pakistan and federal board of revenue regarding freezing of the properties of the Sharif family. — PTI