Sharif family absent, summons reissued

ISLAMABAD: An Accountability Court (AC) of Islamabad here on Tuesday orally declined the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) prosecution’s request to issue warrants of arrest for the Sharif family after they did not appear before the court despite summons on September 13 and 14.

AC judge Muhammad Bashir, however, once again issued summons for the Sharif family, directing them to appear before the court on September 26.Meanwhile, Maryam Nawaz Sharif, while referring to appearance before the court, tweeted, “He should not. Must not. Should not be a part of political & personal victimisation in the garb of accountability. It’s a FARCE”. Prior to this, she tweeted, “We appeared with reservations but also with hope that our judicial system will follow a legal path & will not come under pressure”.

On September 13, Accountability Court summoned Nawaz Sharif, Hassan and Hussain Nawaz in the Flagship Investments corruption reference while on September 14, the court summoned Maryam Nawaz and her husband Captain (retd) Muhammad Safdar in the Avenfield apartments, Al-Azizia Steel Company and Hill Metal Establishment corruption references along with three other accused.

After their non-appearance, the AC judge reissued summons for the five members of the Sharif family in three corruption references. During Tuesday’s proceedings, political adviser to former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, Asif Kirmani, was present inside the courtroom whom the court directed to inform the accused about issuance of summons.

He, however, said that he could only inform Nawaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz and Captain Safdar as they lived in Raiwind while Hassan and Hussain Nawaz did not live there. Kirmani told the court thatin London looking after his ailing wife.

At start of the proceedings, NAB submitted a compliance report regarding summons earlier issued for Sharif family. It told the court that a security officer at Raiwind received the summons and told the NAB officials that he had instructions not to receive summons for Hassan and Hussain Nawaz.

AC however expressed resentment and remarked that summons was issued for the accused not security official and NAB officials could not have handed these summons to the security official unless recording his statement before the court.

AC judge further remarked that NAB should not drag feet as this was a criminal court and not a civil court and if summons were handed to the security official, his statement must have been recorded. Legal process must be completed, AC judge also said.

The court also directed NAB prosecution to serve summons on Hassan and Hussian Nawaz after locating their addresses. At this, NAB prosecutor requested the court to issue arrest warrants as the accused might not take summons seriously. The judge however remarked that NAB filed a reference about London properties and it did not know where the accused lived. It could be found on the file, AC judge also said.

NAB prosecutor then said that under Supreme Court of Pakistan guidelines, these references should be concluded within 6 months time. At this AC judge replied that this court was aware of the said order and it would also assess the performance of the prosecution during trial.

Accountability Court putting off this matter directed NAB to paste court orders outside the residence of Sharif family. It is to mention here that Accountability Court also summoned Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Wednesday in a corruption reference regarding assets beyond known sources of income.

On September 8, NAB filed three corruption references against Sharif family and one against Ishaq Dar for assets beyond known sources of income, in compliance with the apex Supreme Court of Pakistan judgment dated July 28 before the Accountability Court (AC) of Islamabad.

The references pertained to Avenfield properties, Azizia Steel Mills & Hill Metal Establishment and Flagships Investments were filed against Nawaz Sharif, Hussain Nawaz, Hassan Nawaz, Maryam Nawaz and Captain (R) Muhammad Safdar and one against Ishaq Dar. The reference against Dar reveals that NAB has yet to determine role of the National Bank of Pakistan’s president and others in connection with their alleged involvement in aiding and abetting the finance minister for a 91 times increase in his assets within a short span.

Three references against Sharif family include a reference regarding Avenfield Properties in Park Lane, London number 16, 16-A, 17 & 17-A, a reference against the establishment of Azizia Steel Company and Hill Metal establishment in Jeddah while third reference is about the establishment of Flagship Investments Ltd including several offshore companies in London and one Capital FZE in Dubai.