ISL AMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) will hold an important Executive Board Meeting (EBM) on Wednesday (today) to grant approval for filing of four corruption references against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his children and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar with an accountability court in the Panama Papers case.

However, the NAB chairman does not seem to be willing to freeze the assets of Sharif family or to put their names on the Exit Control List (ECL), according to sources.

A senior NAB official told Dawn on Tuesday that the four references two of them prepared by the Rawalpindi chapter of the bureau and two by its Lahore wing were on the agenda of the meeting and were likely to be approved.

After the EBM would approve the references, they would be filed with the Accountability Court, Islamabad, the sources said.

The references are about the Al-Azizia Steel Mills, Hill Metal Establishment and 16 other companies, besides the one about Mr Dar.

According to the sources, the issue of Hudalbia Paper Mills would also be discussed at the EBM and it would be decided whether or not the NAB chairman should file a plea with the Supreme Court against the Lahore High Court`s decision that went in favour of Mr Sharif.

The bureau has to file four references against the Sharifs in compliance with the apex court`s ruling of July 28 in the Panama Papers case.The court has asked NAB to file references about the Sharif family`s alleged involvement in corruption by the deadline of Sept 8.

The sources said that NAB would file references on the basis of statements of Mr Sharif, his sons Hussain and Hasan, his daughter Maryam and Mr Dar, as recorded by the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) formed in the case, the JIT report, and material received from the Federal Investigation Agency, Federal Board of Revenue, Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan and State Bank of Pakistan.

The sources told Dawn that NAB chief was reluctant to freeze the assets of the Sharif family despite recommendations made by NAB`s Lahore chapter.

However, a spokesman for NAB said the director general of Lahore NAB had not sent any recommendations to the main office for putting the Sharifs` names on ECL and freezing theirassets. `Therefore, the question of rejection of any recommendation does not arise. The media is requested to avoid spreading false and concocted news,` he said.

The spokesman added that NAB chief had not made up his mind about the freezing of assets of the Sharif family.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi told reporters that his party was keenly waiting for the EBM. `We believe that the situation will become clearer after the meeting as NAB has solid evidence to file references against Nawaz Sharif, he said while replying to a question.

The PTI submitted a call-attention notice to the National Assembly Secretariat that accused Mr Sharif and Mr Dar of laundering money and obtaining commissions in the Multan metro bus project and the Habib Bank New York case.