ISLAMABAD: The Accountability Court, Islamabad, expressed concern on Monday over missing material submitted by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) regarding four corruption references against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and members of his family and directed the bureau for ratification.

NAB officials were summoned in the court for missing pages in the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) report submitted on Friday when interim references were filed.

According to the NAB officials, they had earlier submitted three copies of each reference while the court asked for five copies.

However, the accountability court on Monday again pointed out some discrepancies in the references especially those related to Azizia Steel Mills (Jeddah) and Avenfield properties in London.

Interestingly, a NAB spokesman had claimed that all references were complete and media should not run ‘speculative’ news.

A formal hearing of the references will start after Sept 14 when NAB will provide the material required by the accountability court.

However, a senior NAB official told Dawn on condition of anonymity that two pages from the JIT report were missing and as a result the bureau’s official had been called.

NAB informed the court that the two pages were already missing in the report when it had been received from the JIT.

The official said NAB would provide all supporting documents whenever they were required by the court and submission of any material in the court on Monday was a routine matter.

When contacted, the NAB spokesman said he could not comment on the issue because the matter was sub judice.

Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Khursheed Shah urged Nawaz Sharif to face NAB references and not to try to avoid them.

Talking to reporters on Monday, he said: “If Nawaz Sharif tried to escape from the case he will further lose politically.”

Published in Dawn, September 12th, 2017