ISLAMABAD Aug. 19 (TNS): The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has decided to first record the statements of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) members who had probed the offshore assets of the Sharif family.
The graft watchdog submitted an application on Saturday to Justice Ijazul Ahsan, the judge appointed by the top court to oversee NAB’s proceedings against the Sharif family, for this purpose.
On Friday, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his sons did not appear for recording their statements with NAB investigators despite being summoned.
The Sharif family has decided that they would not appear before NAB until the Supreme Court reached a decision on a review petition filed by the ousted PM against the Supreme Court judgment that disqualified him.
On July 28, in a landmark judgment in the Panamagate case, a five-judge Supreme Court bench unanimously deposed Nawaz Sharif and directed NAB to file references against Sharif, his sons Hassan Nawaz, Hussain Nawaz, daughter Maryam Nawaz, son-in-law Captain (retd) Muhammad Safdar and the then finance minister Ishaq Dar.
NAB rules provide for recording statements of accused before filing any corruption reference against them.
NAB has assigned and dedicated 14 officers to investigate the allegations and consequently file four separate references against Sharif family members in light of the SC judgment, a media report suggests.
The four probe teams each comprise three officers – an investigation officer, a case officer, and a director. They will be under the direct supervision of the directors-general of NAB Rawalpindi and Lahore.
These teams will conduct inquiries and recommend whether or not corruption reference should be filed.
The National Accountability Ordinance provides that if an investigation officer deems it necessary in the light of the available material evidence, they can order the arrest of an accused at any stage of an investigation.
