Citing review petition, Sharifs skip NAB call-up

The deposed PM, sons were supposed to appear before top anti-graft body on Friday

LAHORE: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his sons decided to skip their Friday date with National Accountability Bureau (NAB) until a decision is taken on their review petition against the July 28 Supreme Court judgment.

Sources have revealed that Nawaz and his sons have reservations that NAB would not do a fair job.

The source quoted Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah, who was in the consultative meeting at Jati Umra, as saying there was no need for the Sharif trio to appear before NAB. He said that a Supreme Court judge, during a hearing of the Panama Papers case, declared that NAB was ‘dead’. Sanaullah had opined that there is no need for Nawaz Sharif and his family to appear before a ‘dead’ body, while also arguing that whatever had to be done should have been done in the Supreme Court.

Sanaullah, however, said that he was not privy to the Sharif family’s plans regarding the NAB proceedings. He said the matter was being looked after by Nawaz’s legal team and denied reports of any consultative meetings at Jati Umra regarding the legal proceedings, saying that they were actually discussing his upcoming rallies. “No legal issues were discussed,” he reiterated.



Sources in the party have revealed that Nawaz Sharif and his family would wait for the decision of the review petition.

They said that if the review petition does not yield positive results for Sharif family, a future plan of action would be worked on.

Letter to NAB

The Sharifs’ legal team informed NAB via a letter, a copy of which is available with The Express Tribune, that “Nawaz Sharif has been apprised of the [notice to appear] today and has instructed me to convey his inability to appear before the Combined Investigation Team as he has filed a review petition against the judgment dated 28.7.2017 on the basis, whereof the proceeding in the instant matter are being carried out.”

It further states that “in case of acceptance of the review petition, the proceedings initiated by NAB shall be an exercise in futility”.

The notice submitted before the CIT was prepared by Advocate Muhammad Amjad Pervez and is surprisingly dated “today” despite being dated August 11 – more than a week ago.

Special Adviser to the PM Asif Kirmani, a Sharif confidante, confirmed that Advocate Amjad Pervez was part of Nawaz Sharif’s legal team and that a reply letter had been submitted before the CIT. Regarding media reports alleging a questionnaire was demanded from the CIT, he said that only the legal team could confirm this.

A NAB spokesman confirmed that Nawaz Sharif and his sons Hussain and Hussain were called to the NAB office in Lahore to appear before a CIT headed by the Rawalpindi Region director on Friday at 11am, but they never showed up.

Meanwhile, sources said that in the next day or two, Nawaz may go to personally offer condolences to the family of Hamid, the boy who was hit and killed by a car in his motorcade during the GT road rally.