RAWALPINDI: An accountability court in Rawalpindi heard an application filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, DawnNews reported.

Advocate Akram Shaikh, the counsel for Sharif brothers, requested the court to postpone the hearing of NAB’s application for the reopening of three corruption references against his clients to an unspecified date.

The three cases are Hudaibiya Paper Mills, Assets Beyond Known Sources of Income and the Ittefaq Foundry (Wilful Loan Default).

Proceedings in the cases were adjourned sine die by the accountability court in 2001 when the brothers were in exile. After their return to the country, the NAB filed an application in 2007 reopening the cases. The application was accepted but in 2010 the cases were adjourned sine die by the accountability court which directed that the trial could be commenced if an application signed by NAB’s chairman was submitted before the court.

During the hearing, Shaikh told the presiding judge that the high court had adjourned the hearing in the references to an unspecified date.

The judge inquired of Shaikh as to whether Ishaq Dar was an approver in the Hudaibiya Paper Mills case. Upon which, Shaikh said he was not aware of any such development.

Shaikh moreover said that the high court had issued a stay order on the references, adding that, there was "no use of reopening old cases".

Subsequently, the court re-issued notices to members of the Sharif family and adjourned the hearing to September 15.

Earlier on July 18, the court had issued notices to Nawaz Sharif, Shahbaz Sharif and other members of the Sharif family to respond to the NAB’s application for reopening the corruption references against them.