Four cases against Sharifs being referred to NAB

Cases relate to misuse of funds and PM’s plane, new London property

ISLAMABAD: The government was referring four cases to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to investigate into misuse of authority by the previous rulers, two top advisers of the Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Saturday.

The PM’s Adviser Shehzad Akbar and Special Assistant Iftikhar Durrani detailed the alleged misuse of government resources by former Punjab chief minister Shehbaz Sharif and the prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s daughter Maryam Nawaz at a press conference in Islamabad.

They also revealed that the Assets Recovery Unit was referring a case of the new London property belonging to the Sharif family, adding that the government had requested Britain for the ownership documents of the property.



Durrani said that the cases related to the misuse of funds in erecting a security fence around the Sharif family’s Raiwind Palace, plunder of funds allocated for entertainment and gifts, unauthorised use of the prime minister’s aircraft by Shehbaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz.

In the first case, he said that Rs 600 million was spent to secure the “Raiwind Mahal”, which was tantamount to misusing the authority and funds. On the contrary, he continued, Prime Minister Imran Khan paid all the expenses for the security fence erected at his Banigala residence as per the Blue Book.

Another case involves Maryam Nawaz’s use of the prime minister’s official plane. Her trips cost the national exchequer Rs30 million. Another refers to former Punjab chief minister Shehbaz Sharif’s use of the plane.

Akbar said the record of the Prime Minister House and Punjab Chief Minister House would be handed over to NAB. He accused the previous rulers of using the taxpayers’ money lavishly and said that the CM House’s budget was enhanced manifold during 2013-18 period with mala fide intentions.

Akbar revealed that the Assets Recovery Unit was in process of referring another case to NAB about Sharif’s family’s new property traced in London. “The information about the property was revealed by media. Investigative journalists had done the job that I was supposed to do,” he said. “The media is the closest partner in the responsibilities put on my shoulder to identify the corrupt elements and corrupt practices.”

Media, he said, had flashed the news that the property [Frederick Close] located in Central London worth around £2.3 million. The documents regarding its ownership and rental income from 2012 to 2016 had been available, “but were buried in files”.

According to those documents, Akbar said, the property was in the name of Begum Kulsoom Nawaz, late wife of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif. As a member of the National Assembly (MNA), it was Sharif’s responsibility to declare zassets owned by his dependents, including his wife, he added.

The special assistant to the PM said a member of the parliament was required to declare spouse’s assets in nomination forms submitted with the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) for taking part in election. “Parliamentarians were also supposed to submit their annual declarations with the ECP mentioning their own assets and those of their spouses,” he added.

He said it was a fit case of assets beyond known sources of income as the former prime minister had not disclosed the new property of his late wife in London in any declaration submitted with the ECP or wealth statements.



He said it was the domain of NAB to carry out investigation into having assets beyond known sources of income while the Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR) would look into tax-related matters. He said they had requested Britain for fresh ownership documents of the property.

According to the land registry, the property was transferred to Hasan Nawaz in August 2016. The property had lately been sold in March 2018, he added. “We have asked Britain to provide all the documents related to property. We may receive the documents in a week or two. Everything will be shared with the media.”

Durrani said the information shared by China about the Multan Metro Bus Project would be shared with the media soon. “Corrupt practices of former rulers are surfacing one after the other though they were denying to possess any land at home or abroad. Even they had distanced themselves from the contents of Qatari letters,” he said.

The adviser said the incumbent government had introduced a comprehensive austerity drive in all the departments. The amount saved so far on account of curtailing the expenditures of the Prime Minister’s House was Rs 146.8 million, which would further increase at the culmination of full one year. The saved amount would be spent on public welfare projects, including health and nutrition sectors, he added.

He said repair and maintenance cost of the Prime Minister’s House had been reduced from Rs 8 million to Rs 3.4 million. Responding to a question, he said the performance of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government would be shared with the media on completion of its first 100 days in office.