Sharif family failed to appear before accountability court regarding the references in light of the Panama Case
The National Accountability Bureau has frozen assets of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, his children, son-in-law and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar.
According to Pakistani media news, letters were dispatched by the NAB to banks, excise department, deputy commissioners of Islamabad and Lahore to check any possible transference of properties, vehicles and valuables.
It emerged earlier in the day that the anti-corruption watchdog has also frozen bank accounts and other assets of the foreign minister.
A NAB Lahore team also raided finance minister Ishaq Dar’s house in Islamabad hours after an accountability court issued bailable arrest warrants against the PML-N stalwart.
Asset freezing is a legal process which prevents a defendant to an action from dissipating their assets from beyond the jurisdiction of a court so as to frustrate a potential judgement.
The bureau has filed three corruption references against Nawaz Sharif, his sons Hassan Nawaz and Hussain Nawaz and daughter Maryam Nawaz and her husband Capt (r) Muhammad Safdar in the accountability courts of Islamabad and Rawalpindi.
Also on the Supreme Court orders, NAB has filed a fourth reference against Dar for accretion of assets beyond his known sources of income.
As for the Dar, a NAB letter sent to him on Wednesday reads: “It may be noted that any transfer or sale alienation of any property, in any manner, whatsoever is punishable under Section 23 (b) of National Accountability Ordinance, 1999.”
NAB is pursuing references against the former first family of Pakistan and Ishaq Dar under the orders of the Supreme Court which disqualified Nawaz Sharif in a corruption probe earlier this year.
The July judgment came after investigators found enough evidence for ex-premier and his family to be prosecuted over their ownership of luxury residences in London as well as offshore companies, revealed in the Panama Papers leaks and subsequent JIT investigation.