NAB silently moves against Nawaz on Panama Leaks

ISLAMABAD: Things have silently moved against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on the issue of the Panama Leaks, as the NAB Lahore office has received a letter from the headquarters to possibly link the disclosures made by the Leaks with an already pending inquiry against the Sharifs.

NAB sources in the bureau’s Lahore office confided to The News that NAB Lahore had received a letter from the headquarters’ monitoring wing, seeking information about an update on the assets case inquiry against the Sharifs.

The Lahore office has been conveyed that if the alleged assets of the Sharifs do not already include the offshore companies as revealed by the Panama Leaks, then these should be linked with the case.

It is said that there was a probe initiated in 2000-2001 in NAB about the London properties against Nawaz Sharif and others for owning of the Aven Field properties in London. The same Aven Field properties are now reflected in the offshore companies and as per the statement of Hussain Nawaz, it belongs to him.

The NAB sources claim that the chairman NAB might not be in the knowledge of this development but confirmed that the bureau had already started receiving complaints for a detailed probe into the disclosures.

Spokesman for the NAB Nawazish Ali Asim neither denied nor confirmed this development. He simply told The News that he was not updated on the subject.Meanwhile, another senior NAB source told this correspondent that for an overall probe into the Panama Leaks, the bureau held discussions and decided to wait for the formation of the judicial commission.

The source said the NAB will offer its services to the commission, if so required by the body for initiation of a probe into the matter.Over 200 Pakistanis have been reportedly identified in the Panama Leaks. According to a NAB source, primarily the Panama Leaks issue has two dimensions in case of any illegality involved. Either it is an issue of tax evasion or a case of money laundering.

In case of tax evasion, it is said that the department concerned to initiate action is the Federal Board of Revenue. In case of money laundering, the source said, the subject pertains to the Federal Investigation Agency.

The NAB’s direct relevance, however, becomes obvious in those cases and names which are or have already been under the focus of NAB for different allegations.