RAWALPINDI, Feb 21: An accountability court here on Thursday put off the hearing in the three corruption references against former prime minister Mian Nawaz Sharif and his family till March 28 after a prosecution lawyer sought more time to gather instruction from the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

The court No. 4 judge, Chaudhry Khalid Mehmood, deferred the hearing after deputy prosecutor general Zulfiqar Ahmed Bhutta requested the court for adjournment, saying he wanted to obtain further instructions from the NAB chairman and other authorities concerned. The judge adjourned the hearing.

It may be recalled that the NAB sought the reopening of three references — Hudabia Paper Mills, Ittifaq Foundry and Raiwind Assets — against Sharif brothers and their family on August 7 last year.

These cases were adjourned sine die on April 12, 2001, when Nawaz Sharif and his family went to Saudi Arabia after reaching an understanding with the government of Pervez Musharraf.

The application for reopening of the references was filed after Nawaz Sharif moved the Supreme Court for the permission to return to the country.

September 10 last year, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz chief attempted to return to the country after the SC decision, but he was sent back by the government.

The NAB authorities wanted to obtain the arrest warrants of Nawaz Sharif but the judge refused to issue the warrants. The arrest warrants shown to the former prime minister at the airport on September 10 were issued by the NAB chairman.

The court has not issued any notices to the accused asking them for their reply. The name of late Mian Sharif, the father of Nawaz Sharif, was deleted from the list of the accused in the references.

In Hudabia Paper Mills reference besides Nawaz Sharif, Shahbaz Sharif, Abbas Sharif, Hussain Nawaz, Hamza Shahbaz, Haroon Pasha and senator Ishaq Dar are the co-accused.

The accused were charged with securing huge amount as loan in the name of Hudabia Paper Mills and later using the loan for some other purposes, thus causing huge loss to the national exchequer.

In Ittifaq Foundry reference, Mian Nawaz Sharif, Abbas Sharif, Mukhtar Hassan, Kamal Qureshi and couple of other persons were accused of securing big loans and abusing the money.

Similarly, in the Assets Reference the accused include Nawaz Sharif, Shahbaz Sharif, their father late Mian Sharif, mother Shamim Akhtar and other family members. In the reference, they were charged with accumulation of huge sum and assets beyond their declared means of income by allegedly misusing their authority.