ISLAMABAD: An accountability court on Friday accepted a petition filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Rawalpindi for the auction of the seized properties owned by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.
The NAB’s decision to auction the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supreme leader’s assets comes after he was declared a proclaimed offender in the Toshakhana reference.
After the accountability court’s approval, the concerned provincial governments will be able to auction Nawaz’s properties wherever they are located.
The accountability judge directed the authorities concerned to auction the former premier’s moveable and immoveable properties and deposit the money to be earned through the auction into the national exchequer.
The bureau, through its Deputy Prosecutor General Sardar Muzaffar Khan Abbasi, filed the application. Abbasi stated that the accountability court had declared Nawaz a proclaimed offender in the Toshakhana reference. Despite a lapse of six months, the former premier did not surrender himself before the court, he added.
He recalled that the court had declared Nawaz a proclaimed offender on August 17 and ordered attaching his property on Oct 1. He pleaded with the court to allow auction of the properties of Sharif in accordance with the law.
The court has ordered the Lahore deputy commissioner and Sheikhupura to submit a report on the matter within 60 days. Nawaz’s vehicles should also be auctioned within 30 days, the court further ordered. The vehicles will be seized and sold with the help of the police, the court said.
The court also ordered the seizure of any funds in Nawaz’s bank accounts and their deposit in the public exchequer. However, the accountability court said only those properties on which the Sharif family hasn’t raised objections can be auctioned.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has been directed to sell shares owned by Nawaz in four companies. Proceeds from the sale should be deposited in the national treasury, the court said.
According to a NAB report, Nawaz has shares in four companies: 467,950 shares in Mohammad Bukhsh Textile Mills, 343,425 shares in Hudaibiya Paper Mills Ltd, 22,213 shares in Hudaibiya Engineering Co (Pvt) Ltd and 48,806 shares in Ittefaq Textile Mills Ltd.
He also has eight accounts in private banks, including three foreign currency accounts. The NAB said Nawaz had over Rs600,000 in five accounts and 566 euros, $698, and GBP498 in foreign currency accounts.
Nawaz also has nine properties to his name in Lahore, Sheikhupura, Murree and Abbottabad. These include 135 Upper Mall Lahore; 936 kanals, 10 marla and 85 feet of agricultural land in Mauza Manak Lahore; a 12-acre guava orchid; 299 kanals and 12 marla of agricultural land in Mauza Baokisani; 103 kanals and 6 marla of agricultural land in Mauza Mall, Raiwind; 312 kanals and 14 marla of agricultural land in Mauza Sultankay, Lahore; 14 kanals and 5 marla of agricultural land in Mauza Manddiali, Ferozabad; 65 kanals and 4 marla of agricultural land in Mauza Ferozwattan, Sheikhpura; Bungalow 24-A & B and B-3, Hall Road, Murree; and a house measuring 15 kanals and 15 marla in Changla Gali, Abbottabad.
The former PM also has a Toyota Land Cruiser model 2010 (LEB 10-1957), a Mercedes model 1973 (LHD-280), a Mercedes Benz model 1991 (IDH-78), a tractor model 2011 (LES 11-778) and a tractor model 2015 (LES-15-6024).
