The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) will approach an accountability court to declare former prime minister Nawaz Sharif a proclaimed offender in a land case involving Jang Group’s Editor-in-Chief Mir Shakilur Rehman, the bureau's spokesperson Nawazish Ali confirmed on Sunday.

According to the bureau, Nawaz had illegally leased 54 kanals of land to Rehman in 1986 during his tenure as the Punjab chief minister.

Nawaz is currently in London for treatment after having been granted bail on medical grounds.

On March 27, NAB had sent a questionnaire to Nawaz and had summoned him to the bureau office on March 31 to record his statement.

Earlier on March 15, NAB’s Lahore office had summoned the PML-N supremo to appear before the bureau on March 20, but no response came from him.

Rehman was arrested in Lahore on March 12.

According to the anti-corruption watchdog, Rehman was arrested in connection with “alleged illegal exemption of 54 plots [each measuring one kanal] in H-block of Jauhar Town phase-II allotted to him being the holder of general power of attorney on behalf of Hidayat Ali and Hikmat Ali by the then Punjab chief minister [Nawaz Sharif in 1986] in violation of the relevant laws/rules”.

NAB sources had said that under the Lahore Development Authority’s (LDA) exemption policy, not more than 15 plots measuring one kanal each could be exempted.

“There must be some reasons that he [Rehman] was exempted 54 plots measuring one kanal each in a single compact block. He was required to surrender 70 per cent of this land,” the sources had said.

Rehman had stated that the property in question had been bought from a private party and all evidence of this had been provided to NAB. "No wrong had been committed in this regard," he had said.