Islamabad (January 22, 2018): National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Monday has filed an interim reference against Sharif family over London flats case in accountability court.
According to details, seven including two foreign witnesses have been included in the reference.
NAB informed the judge that the new supplementary reference, which has fresh pieces of evidence against the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader includes seven new prosecution witnesses, including two from the United Kingdom.
Forensic expert Robert Radley and a close relative of Panama case Joint Investigative Team head, Federal Investigation Agency Additional Director Wajid Zia, will be the witnesses in the case, while two other witnesses are affiliated with the Ministry of Information.
NAB informed that it has taken the initial statement from the witnesses based in the UK.
The apex anti-corruption watchdog said that one of the witnesses belongs to a private media channel, while two others work under NAB.
Moreover, it also informed the court that excerpts of TV interviews of Nawaz, Maryam, Hasan and Hussain are part of the evidence.
Earlier, NAB Chairman Justice (r) Javed Iqbal had stated that negligence in verification of documents in connection with London flats reference case against Sharif family will not be tolerated.
Iqbal had met Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua and directed the concerned ministry to expedite the process of retrieval of documents through diplomatic sources.
Last month, a two-member team of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) visited the United Kingdom to collect more evidence pertaining to the Avenfield apartments case against the ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif.
Maryam Nawaz is the beneficial owner of the said properties, according to the official papers sent by the British authorities to the Joint Investigation Team (JIT), which was founded by the Supreme Court to investigate the Panama Papers scandal.
A reference was filed by NAB before the accountability court against the disqualified prime minister, his daughter Maryam and sons Hassan and Hussain regarding the UK Avenfield properties, according to the directions of the Supreme Court in the Panama Papers verdict.
On the other hand, Nawaz and his family are also facing trial in Azizia Steel Mills, Hill Metals Establishment, and over a dozen offshore companies, including Flagship Investment Ltd.
Nawaz and his family face three references pertaining to the Azizia Steel Mills and Hill Metals Establishment, their London (Avenfield) properties, and over a dozen offshore companies, including Flagship Investment Ltd.
The Avenfield reference pertains to the Park Lane apartments (flats 16, 16-A, 17 and 17-A Avenfield House, Park Lane, London, United Kingdom), of the Sharif family and includes Nawaz, his three children, and son-in-law MNA Capt (retd) Safdar as accused.
Hasan and Hussain have been declared proclaimed offenders for not being a part of the proceedings.
In its July 28 judgment, the Supreme Court had stated: “In preparing and filing this Reference, the NAB shall also consider the material already collected during the course of investigations conducted earlier, as indicated in the detailed judgments,” the court ruled.
The Supreme Court had also given NAB the option to file supplementary reference(s) “if and when any other asset, which is not prima facie reasonably accounted for, is discovered”.
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