All you want to know about Nawaz Sharif?s Avenfield reference

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on 08th September 2017, filed four references in the accountability court against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his two sons -- Hussain Nawaz and Hassan Nawaz -- his daughter Maryam Nawaz, son-in-law Captain (retd) Muhammad Safdar and Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar.Three references filed against Nawaz Sharif and family included a reference relating to the Avenfield properties (Flats No16 and 16-A, 17 and 17-A Avenfield House, Park Lane, London, United Kingdom); reference relating to establishment of Azizia Steel Company and Hill Metal Company, Jeddah, and the reference relating to the Flagship Investment Limited and 15 other companies. The fourth reference was filed against Ishaq Dar relating to possessing assets beyond known sources of income.In the three references against Nawaz Sharif and his family, NAB has invoked Section-9 of the NAB Ordinance 1999 and it deals with illegal money and exchange of gifts and Sharif family and Dar can face up to 14 years imprisonment, heavy fines, and freezing of property if the accountability court rules that a violation of Section 9 of the NAB Ordinance 1999 has taken place as suggested in the report of the Panama Papers case JIT.The London properties owned by Sharif family were revealed in Panama Papers. The luxury flats, Nawaz Sharif has been using since 90s, were bought from illegitimate money, an accusation the ruling family denies.They claim that a trust administered by the family bought the assets in 2006 after selling a paper mill in Saudi Arabia.The four properties in question are flats 16, 16a, 17 and 17a in Avenfield House, an apartment block on Park Lane in London, next to Hyde Park on the edge of Mayfair, the capital’s most expensive district.They were owned by shell companies registered in the British Virgin Islands, a popular tax haven. Leaked Panama documents further show that in 2008 Sharif’s daughter Mariam and son Hussain used the assets of those two companies and a third BVI company called Coomber Group to raise a £7M loan from the Swiss arm of Deutsche Bank. Deutsche Bank has not been accused of any wrongdoing.The apex court, in it's Panama Papers case, had directed the accountability court to decide the case within six months but the AC has sought extension in the references thrice.

from The News International - National https://ift.tt/2KzIRgJ