Pakistan's anti-graft body summons Sharif, sons

Pakistan's anti-corruption body has issued summons to disqualified Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his two sons to appear before it on Friday in money laundering and graft cases.

A National Accountability Bureau (NAB) official told the Dawn newspaper that Sharif and his sons -- Huss­ain and Hassan Nawaz -- had been told to appear before investigators in Lahore for questioning in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills case.

They will also be probed in connection with their offshore properties revealed by the Panama Papers.

On July 28, a five-member bench of the Supreme Court disqualified Sharif from office following a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) probe that exposed illegal family wealth stashed abroad.

The apex court had directed the anti-corruption body to file four reference cases by September 8 against Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz, his two sons, son-in-law Muhammad Safdar and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, the Dawn said on Thursday.

These relate to the Sharif family's four upscale flats in London and 16 offshore companies held by the family.

Sharif filed a review petition before the Supreme Court on Tuesday against his disqualification and moved a separate application with a request to suspend the final verdict in the Panama Papers case as long as the review petition was pending.

In the application, Sharif said that under Article 188 of the Constitution, he cannot be disqualified without a trial.

--IANS

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