NAB can't declare me proclaimed offender, haven’t received any notice: Hasan

LONDON: Hasan Nawaz, son of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Nawaz Sharif and a respondent in the references filed by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against the Sharif family, said on Monday that the court cannot declare him a ‘proclaimed offender’.

In a statement issued from London, Hasan Nawaz said he has not received any NAB summons at his residential address in London where he has been living for last 24 years.

The former prime minister’s son said he is a British citizen and has never received the said summons according to British laws.

Hasan termed NAB’s actions an exercise that is nothing more than political victimisation and an effort to make 'news headlines'.

He said he has not committed any crime which could him make him an absconder and has never fled from the country.

An accountability court on Monday, hearing the graft cases against the Sharif family, approved NAB plea to declare Hasan and Hussain Nawaz proclaimed offenders.

The accountability court is hearing a total of three corruption cases against the Sharif family filed by NAB in light of the Supreme Court's judgment in the Panama Papers case.

NAB officials also submitted in court a plea to declare Hasan and Hussain Nawaz proclaimed offenders as they failed to show up in court even today, despite issuance of non-bailable arrest warrants.

Approving NAB's plea, the judge separated the trial of Nawaz's sons and also ordered the initiation of the process of declaring them proclaimed offenders.

The process will involve publication of notices in the newspapers directing the accused to appear in court. Failure to do so will result in seizure of property and issuance of further warrants.