ISLAMABAD, SEPT 08 (DNA) -National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Friday filed four references against Sharif family members and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar in the accountability courts of Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

The decision of filing references has been taken after getting go-ahead by the Executive Board of anti-graft body in a meeting yesterday.

The references are to be filed against former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, his children and son-in-law while another will be registered against Finance Minister Ishaq Dar in compliance with the Supreme Court’s landmark verdict in the Panamagate case.

Sharif family members and Dar could face up to 14 years imprisonment, hefty penalties, and freezing of their properties if the accountability court rules that a violation of Section 9 of the NAB Ordinance 1999 has taken place as suggested in the report compiled by Panamagate Joint Investigation Team (JIT).

According to informed sources, NAB has disregarded filing a reference in the Hudaibia Papers Mills’ case and sought legal assistance on the matter instead.

NAB’s Rawalpindi chapter has prepared two references regarding the Azizia Steel Mills and nearly dozen other companies owned by the Sharif family.

On the other hand, NAB’s Lahore bureau had prepared a reference against Sharif family’s offshore properties and one against Ishaq Dar for possessing assets beyond his known sources of income.

However, NAB Chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry has reportedly declined recommendations by the bureau’s regional chiefs in the two cities with regard to freezing assets of Sharif family members and Dar, besides adding their names on Exit Control List (ECL).

A five-judge bench of Supreme Court of Pakistan on July 28 announced a judgment in Panamagate case, disqualifying Nawaz Sharif as Prime Minister.

Soon after the SC judgement, the PM House issued a terse statement saying that Nawaz Sharif, despite having reservations on the court verdict, has stepped down from his post as the premier.

Sharif served as prime minister twice in the 1990s before he was ousted in a 1999 coup leading to a decade of exile. He won a third term as prime minister in May 2013 general election.=DNA

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