Pak's anti-graft watchdog files 4 cases against Sharifs

Pakistan's anti-graft watchdog today filed four corruption cases against ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his children and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar over the Panama Papers scandal.
The cases have been initiated after the Supreme Court on July 28 disqualified 67-year-old Sharif for dishonesty and ruled that corruption cases be filed against him and his children over the scandal.
Those named in the cases filed include Sharif, his sons Hasan and Hussain, daughter Maryam, son-in-law Muhammad Safdar and Ishaq Dar.
The apex court had tasked the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to register corruption cases against him, his children, son-in-law and the finance minister within six weeks.

"The references were prepared on the basis of the material collected and referred to by the Joint Investigation Team (set up by Supreme Court) in its report and any other material collected by NAB during the course of investigation," the NAB said.
The cases have been filed with anti-corruption court of Rawalpindi-Islamabad following the court orders before the end of the deadline of September 8, a NAB official said.

The cases were approved yesterday by NAB chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry at special meeting of the senior officials.
One of the cases against Sharif, his children and Safdar is about purchase of four luxury flats in Park Lane area of London.

The second one is against Sharif and his son Hussain and is about setting up of Azizia Steel Company and Hill Metal Company.
The third case is against Sharif and his two sons and is related to several private companies set up by the family and which have been already identified in the judgement of the court.
The fourth came is against Dar for possessing assets beyond his known sources of income.
The accused can be sentenced for several years in jail and they could be permanently disqualified for any public office if proved guilty.