NAB okays graft references against Shehbaz Sharif, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi

ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) here on Tuesday approved filing of corruption reference against Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz President and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif in assets beyond means case, ARY News reported.

The decision was taken during the NAB’s executive board meeting held in Islamabad today with its chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal in the chair.

The watchdog body has also approved to file reference against Shehbaz Sharif’s sons – Hamza Shahbaz and Salman Shahbaz, pertaining to the accumulation of assets disproportionate to their known sources of income to the tune of Rs7,328 million.

According to the anti-graft watchdog, Shehbaz Sharif and his co-accused family members, benamidars, frontmen, accumulated assets beyond known means of income.

The NAB also approved to file graft reference against officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for corruption in the sale of the Embassy of Pakistan building in Jakarta, Indonesia.

NAB claims that during the period of 2001-02, Syed Mustafa Anwar, who was at the time the Ambassador of Pakistan in Jakarta, sold the Pakistani embassy building at “a throwaway price”, which caused a loss of 1.32 million US dollars to national kitty.

Furthermore, the accountability bureau also approved filing of supplementary references against former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and erstwhile finance minister Miftah Ismail in Liquefied natural gas (LNG) case.

The anti-graft watchdog alleges that the accused awarded the LNG Terminal-1 contract through a non-transparent process.