Hassan, Hussain declared proclaimed offenders

Sharif’s plea to club cases rejected by IHC

ISLAMABAD: An accountability court on Monday declared former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s sons Hasan and Hussain proclaimed offenders in three cases filed by NAB and began the process of confiscating their assets.

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) also dismissed Sharif’s plea against the filing of multiple corruption references against him by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

The Islamabad Accountability Court had issued proclamation orders against Hasan and Hussain Nawaz on October 12 and warned them to surrender within a month and join the proceedings on the three references. Following the court directives, NAB pasted the proclamation order at the Federal Judicial Complex.

The references filed against Sharif and his family in the wake of the Panama Papers case judgment are related to ownership of Avenfield Flats 16, 16-A, 17 and 17-A in London, the establishment of Azizia Steel and Hill Metal companies in Jeddah, and Flagship Investment and 15 other companies. Another reference was filed against former finance minister Ishaq Dar for possessing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.

Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Capt (retd) Mohammad Safdar appeared before accountability judge Mohammad Bashir.

NAB informed the court that bank accounts and shares in companies belonging to Hasan and Hussain had already been seized. The court has started recording evidence against the accused under section 512 of NAB Ordinance and the 30-day deadline given to them to appear for the trial has expired. Their property can be seized after the court declared them proclaimed offenders.

The judge ordered initiation of the process of declaring them proclaimed offenders and issued their non-bailable arrest warrants on October 2. On October 9, he accepted NAB's plea to declare them proclaimed offenders and separated proceedings against them over the three references. This involved publication of notices in newspapers.



On October 12, NAB also posted the court's proclamation order on the gates of the Sharif family's residences in Jati Umra and Model Town, Lahore.

Later, the court ordered the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) to freeze the assets of Hasan and Hussain. NAB said in its report that according to the SECP, Hasan and Hussain owned shares in six companies. The court asked the SECP to freeze their shares and ordered both accused to appear by November 8, which they failed to do.

Meanwhile, after the dismissal of the petition seeking to club the references against him, Sharif commented, “I feel the judiciary would again disqualify me even in the cases of Imran Khan and Jahangir Tareen.”  It may be mentioned that the Supreme Court last month reserved judgment on petitions seeking disqualification of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leaders for not declaring assets in their nomination papers.

An IHC division bench, comprising Justice Aamir Farooq and Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, dismissed the former prime minister’s appeal against the dismissal by the accountability court of his petition challenging the filing of multiple corruption references against him.

Earlier, the SC Registrar Office had returned Sharif’s petition for the merger of the three NAB references after raising objections. Chief Justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar on November 16 dismissed his appeal after maintaining the objections raised by the Registrar Office.

Thereupon the former premier, through his counsel Khawaja Haris, has also filed a constitutional petition under Article-184(3), challenging the verdict.



The petition contended that the order “forces the petitioner to face the rigours of multiple prosecutions for a single offence, which is tantamount to violation of his fundamental right under Article 10-A of the Constitution”.