The National Accountability Court (NAB) on Wednesday filed two supplementarily references concerning Al-Azizia Steel Mills and Flagship investments in an accountability court, DawnNews reported.

According to a press statement issued by NAB, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his sons Hasan and Hussain Nawaz were nominated in the supplementary references by NAB Rawalpindi.

The references were filed after being approved by the body's chairman, retired justice Javed Iqbal, in light of "fresh evidence" unearthed by the anti-corruption body.

Before filing the references, NAB had summoned Nawaz to an accountability court to record his statements regarding the references prepared by the body.

However, Sharif failed to appear before the end of working hours, leading NAB to file the references without the former prime minister's statement. A court will now start hearing the case.

Nawaz had been summoned by NAB Rawalpindi, which is being headed by Irfan Mangi — a member of the Panama Papers leaks Joint Investigation Team formed by the Supreme Court to probe corruption allegations against the Sharif family.

A source in NAB had told Dawn that Mangi wanted to fulfil a legal requirement to get Nawaz acquainted with the evidence they had collected for supplementary references.

Nawaz and his family members are facing three corruption references in the accountability court — Avenfield Properties, Al-Azizia Steel Mills and Flagship Investments — in which they are accused of money laundering, tax evasion and hiding offshore assets. A supplementary reference pertaining to their Avenfield Properties has already been filed.

NAB moves interior ministry to place Nawaz and family on ECL

Separately, NAB wrote to the interior ministry requesting the placement of the names of the former premier, Maryam Nawaz and her husband, Mohammad Safdar, on the Exit Control List, a spokesperson for the Bureau, Nawazish Ali Khan, told media.

A day earlier, Nawaz, Maryam and Safdar had requested an accountability court to grant them two-week exemption from attending any hearings.

In the appeal, Maryam's lawyer, Advocate Amjad Pervez, had said that it was important for the appellants to go to London in order to visit the former premier's wife Kulsoom, who is suffering from cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy.