The Supreme Court of Pakistan clear the way for National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to access Volume X

The Supreme Court (SC) on 17th August granted the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) access to Volume X of the final report of the joint investigation team (JIT) that probed allegations of money laundering against the Sharif family in the Panamagate case.

The complete contents of the previously withheld volume have been made available to the bureau a day before former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his two sons have been summoned to appear before NAB investigators in Lahore.

NAB was asked to file four references in the Rawalpindi accountability court on the basis of the material collected and referred to by the JIT against members of the Sharif family and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar in keeping with the apex court's verdict in the Panamagate case.

Volume X of the report contains details of mutual legal assistance (MLA) with various countries and has not been made public by the Supreme Court on the request of the six-member JIT’s chairman Wajid Zia.

Earlier, the SC had only provided the NAB with the first nine volumes of the report, withholding the tenth.

However, last week, NAB had filed an application with the SC, requesting complete certified copies of the report. The bureau needed at least four certified and complete copies to finalise the references.