ISLAMABAD: An accountability court on Thursday summoned former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his children Maryam, Hussain and Hassan Nawaz, son-in-law retired Captain Mohammad Safdar and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar in connection with three references, filed on the directions of the Supreme Court.

On Wednesday, Accountability Judge Mohammad Bashir had already summoned Mr Sharif and his sons in the reference pertaining to the establishment of 16 companies, including Flagship Investments Limited.

The court fixed Sept 19 for the appearance of Sharif family, however, the reference against Mr Dar will be taken up the next day.

On July 28, the Supreme Court directed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to file references against Mr Sharif, his sons, daughter, son in-law within six weeks.

NAB has already filed one references against the former PM, his children and son-in-law in relation to the London flats – consisting of four properties in Avenfield House in London’s Park Lane area.

The references stated that the accused were given ample opportunity to explain and provide evidence regarding the accumulation of their assets, but “they did not join the investigation before NAB on the pretext that a review petition was already filed before Supreme Court of Pakistan against the July 28 verdict”.

In addition, the references said, the requests for Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) have been sent by the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) and their response is still awaited. These will be placed before the court when they are received from each respective foreign jurisdiction.

So far, all four references have been termed “interim” and NAB has the option of filing supplementary references later.

Published in Dawn, September 15th, 2017