Pakistan accountability court summons Sharif, children on September 19

Sharif and his children were asked to appear in the court in a case linked to the family’s company, Flagship Investment Limited, in the UK.

Pakistan’s former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his children were on Wednesday summoned by an anti- corruption court to appear before it on September 19 in a case linked to the family’s company in the UK.

Ousted Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif gestures as he addresses supporters at a rally after reaching his home city of Lahore on August 12. (AFP File Photo)

They were summoned after the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) last week filed four cases against Sharif, his family members and finance minister Ishaq Dar.

The Islamabad-based accountability court on Wednesday ordered Sharif and his children -- Maryam, Hussain and Hassan -- to appear before it on September 19 in a case linked to the Sharif family’s company, Flagship Investment Limited, in the UK.

Earlier, the court had returned the cases due to “several mistakes” but the NAB moved swiftly to remove the errors and re-filed the cases against Sharif.

Still the NAB has to fix mistakes in two cases and return them by Thursday.

The cases are based on the July 28 judgment of the Supreme Court in the Panama Papers case. The court disqualified Sharif and ordered cases be registered against him and his family.

Meanwhile, a five-judge larger bench of the Supreme Court on Wednesday started hearing of the review petitions by Sharif and others against the judgment.

Sharifs are unlikely to appear as they have already stated that they would not appear before the NAB courts until the decision by the apex court about the review petitions.