Imran Khan's govt to refer 4 new cases against Sharifs to NAB

Prime Minister Imran Khan-led government has decided to send four new cases to Pakistan's top anti-graft agency to investigate into the misuse of authority by the Sharif family in the previous government, according to a media report.

Khan's Adviser Shehzad Akbar and Special Assistant Iftikhar Durrani detailed the alleged misuse of government resources by former Punjab chief minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz chief Shehbaz Sharif and ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif's daughter Maryam Nawaz at a press conference here, the Express Tribune newspaper reported.

The officials said that the Assets Recovery Unit was referring a case of the new London property belonging to the Sharif family to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for investigation, adding that the government had requested Britain for the ownership documents of the property.

Durrani said that the cases related to the misuse of funds in erecting a security fence around the Sharif family's Raiwind Palace, plunder of funds allocated for entertainment and gifts, unauthorised use of the prime minister's aircraft by Shehbaz and Maryam.

In the first case, he said that Rs 60 crore was spent to secure the "Raiwind Mahal", which was tantamount to misusing the authority and funds.

Another case involves Maryam's use of the prime minister's official plane. Her trips cost the national exchequer Rs 3 crore. Another case refers to former Shehbaz's use of the plane.

Akbar said the record of the Prime Minister House and Punjab Chief Minister House would be handed over to NAB. He accused the previous rulers of using the taxpayers' money lavishly and said that the CM House's budget was enhanced manifold during 2013-18 period with mala fide intentions.

He said that the Assets Recovery Unit was in process of referring another case to NAB about Sharif's family's new property traced in London.

Akbar said it was a fit case of assets beyond known sources of income as the former prime minister had not disclosed the new property in London in any declaration submitted with the Election Commission or wealth statements.

He said it was the domain of NAB to carry out investigation into having assets beyond known sources of income while the Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR) would look into tax-related matters. He said they had requested Britain for fresh ownership documents of the property.

Durrani said the information shared by China about the Multan Metro Bus Project would be shared with the media soon.

"Corrupt practices of former rulers are surfacing one after the other though they were denying to possess any land at home or abroad. Even they had distanced themselves from the contents of Qatari letters," he said.

Sharif, 68, was disqualified by the Supreme Court in the Panama Papers case in July, 2017.

In July, 2018 Sharif, his daughter Maryam and his son-in-law retired captain Mohammad Safdar were sentenced to 11 years, eight years and one year respectively in prison in the Avenfield properties case related to their purchase of four luxury flats in London through corrupt practices.

His sentence was, however, suspended. The three-time former prime minister and his family have denied any wrongdoing.