ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan has granted permission to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to record statements of the Joint Investigation Team members who had probed assets of the Sharif family.
Justice Ijazul Ahsan of the SC accepted the request of NAB Islamabad in this regard. Last week, the bureau had sent a request to the apex court.
Justice Ijaz is the judge appointed by the SC to oversee the bureau’s proceedings against Nawaz Sharif and his family members.
Earlier, sources had said JIT head Wajid Zia had refused to record statements, saying the investigative team was no more effective. Therefore, he had said, he could not proceed over the matter until the court ordered him to do so.
Sources within NAB said that investigators needed statements from the JIT members, as well as the evidence collected by them in order to proceed with the task of filing references against the Sharif family, as mandated by the apex court.
On Aug 17, NAB was also granted access to the secret Volume X of the report prepared by the JIT.
The ousted premier and his family have yet to appear before NAB, despite having been served three notices by the anti-corruption watchdog.
Pending references: While disqualifying Sharif under Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution on July 28, a five-member SC bench had asked NAB to file four references in a Rawalpindi accountability court within six weeks on the basis of the material collected and referred to by the JIT as well as that already available with the bureau and the Federal Investigation Agency.
NAB has to a file reference against Sharif, his children Maryam Safdar and Hussain and Hassan Nawaz, son-in-law retired Capt Muhammad Safdar regarding the ownership of four upscale flats in London.
A reference against Sharif and his sons regarding the Azizia Steel Mills and Hill Metal Establishment and another investigating 16 other companies have also been ordered. The companies include Flagship Investments, Hartstone Properties, Que Holdings, Quint Eaton Place 2, Quint Saloane, Quaint Ltd, Flagship Securities, Quint Gloucester Place, Quint Paddington, Flagship Developments, Alanna Services (the British Virgin Islands), Lankin SA (BVI), Chadron Inc, Ansbacher, Coomber and Capital Free Zone Establishment (Dubai).
Published in Daily Times, August 27th 2017.
