Sharif family evades hearing yet again

Lahore, August 22

For the third consecutive time, ousted Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his sons today failed to appear before the country's top anti-graft body which is to interrogate them over the money laundering and corruption charges revealed by the Panama Papers.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had issued summons to Sharif and his sons — Hussain and Hasan, daughter Maryam, son-in-law Captain (retd) Safdar and finance minister Ishaq Dar — to interrogate them in its Lahore office in connection with their offshore properties revealed by the Panama Papers case. A senior NAB official said Sharif and his two sons failed to appear before the NAB for the third consecutive time while Maryam and Dar for the second and first time respectively.

The official further said the NAB would write to interior ministry to put Sharif and his family on ECL if they continued to evade the investigation. Sharif, his children and his son-in-law were summoned in a case that primarily revolves around Maryam being a beneficiary of offshore firms. 

Earlier Sharif and his sons were summoned on Friday, but they did not appear before the NAB. — PTI