References against Sharifs, Dar: NAB team submits report to Ops Div today

ISLAMABAD – The National Accountability Bureau (NAB)’s combined investigation team (CIT) will submit its report regarding four references against the Sharif family and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar to the bureau’s operation’s division on Monday (today), The Nation has learnt.

Well-placed sources said the investigations teams of Rawalpindi and Lahore bureaus forwarded their final reports to the NAB headquarters, and it would forward the reports to the prosecution wing to examine them.

Sources said that the NAB chairman would call the NAB Executive Board Meeting and give the approval to file references after completion of the consultation of prosecution and operations wings on reports of NAB investigators.

Sources informed The Nation that the NAB Chairperson, Qamar Zaman Chaudhry, had given the CIT the task to finalise its report in four references against the Sharif family, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and Captain (retired) Safdar till August 28th.

Sources also claimed that the bureau’s investigators would issue the notices to the members of the joint investigation team (JIT) on Monday (today) to record their statements before submitting their final reports.

They said that the members of the CIT would also stay in Islamabad till the filing of the references in Islamabad and Rawalpindi accountability courts. The Eid holidays of the NAB investigation team members have also been cancelled, sources said.

The NAB had also gotten permission from the Supreme Court supervisory judge on references to record the statements of the JIT members on Friday evening.

The apex court had ordered the anti-graft body to investigate the four references against ousted prime minister Nawaz Sahrif; his children, Hussain, Hassan and Maryam Nawaz, his son-in-law Captain (retired) Safdar, and Finance Minster Ishaq Dar, and file in accountability courts within six weeks.

Following the court’s order, the NAB distributed four references among Lahore and Rawalpindi offices and also constituted a 14-member CIT. The CIT started work on the basis of the JIT report for preparations of references without wasting a single day.

During the investigation, the NAB investigators summoned the disqualified prime minister, his children, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Captain (retired) Safdar, National Bank of Pakistan President Saeed Ahmed and Javed Kiyani with instructions to appear before the CIT, and record their statements in the four references.

But, only NBP president and Javed Kiyani followed the NAB notices and recorded their statements in the Hudaibiya Paper Mills and London flats cases.

Nawaz Sharif and his family, and Ishaq Dar had decided that they would not appear before the NAB investigation team and asked it to provide them a questionnaire in this regard.

The NAB investigation team also wrote to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) and sought the bank accounts details, business companies details, and record of tax return of the former PM, his children, Ishaq Dar and his family, and the NBP president.

All departments cooperated with the NAB and provided all the details to the CIT.

The NAB had also sought record of speeches of the last five years of Nawaz Sharif from the Pemra.

NAB spokesperson Asim Ali Nawazish, while talking to The Nation rejected all the media reports regarding the bureau’s executive board meeting on Monday (today).

He avoided passing any comment on submission of investigation team’s report to the bureau’s operations division.

Nawazish said the NAB chairman would be busy in an inauguration ceremony of new building of the bureau today.

Source: The Nation