NAB suggests freezing of Sharifs’ assets

Four references received at NAB headquarters from Lahore, Rawalpindi regions

ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) headquarters on Friday received four references against the Sharif family and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar from its Lahore and Rawalpindi regional offices, recommending to freeze assets of the Sharifs and put their names on the no-fly-list.

According to sources, NAB Lahore and Rawalpindi sent references with their approval against deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his sons Hussain and Hasan, daughter Maryam and Ishaq Dar.

A meeting of NAB’s regional board was held in Lahore on Thursday under the chair of DG NAB Lahore Maj (retd) Shehzad Salim. The board recommended that all transferable and non-transferable property of members of the Sharif family and finance minister Ishaq Dar be confiscated and his name be placed on the Exit Control List (ECL).

NAB’s executive board will approve the references before they are presented before the accountability court in compliance with the Supreme Court’s July 28 judgment in the Panama Papers case.

The top court had directed NAB to file these references in an accountability court by September 8.



The first reference is related to the Sharif family’s London properties – flat numbers 16, 16-A, 17 and 17-A at Avenfield on Park Lane. This reference is against former PM Nawaz Sharif, his sons Hassan Nawaz and Hussain Nawaz, daughter Maryam Nawaz and her husband Capt (retd) Safdar

Three other references – to be filed against Sharif and his sons – are about the Azizia Steel Company and Hill Metal Establishment, the foreign firms owned by the Sharif family.

One of the references also involves Finance Minister Ishaq Dar who is accused of possessing assets and funds beyond known sources of income.

NAB was supposed to file the four references and record statements of accused under Section 161 of the CrPc, but members of the Sharif family as well as Dar refused to appear before NAB investigators, insisting that their review petitions were pending before the Supreme Court.

“My client, Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, has been apprised of the above-cited notice [on August 18] and has instructed me to convey his inability to appear before the Combined Investigation Team as he has already filed a review petition against the judgment dated July 28, 2017,” said an application filed by the Sharif family in response to summons issued in the Azizia Steel Mill case.

“In case of acceptance of the review petition, the proceedings initiated by NAB shall be an exercise in futility,” the Sharif family told NAB through its lawyer.

The references prepared by NAB bureaus in Rawalpindi and Lahore has been received by the NAB headquarter Islamabad. In the meeting on July 31, NAB started process for filing cases in line with Panamagate case verdict.