Shehbaz Sharif’s son-in-law’s properties confiscated

A Pakistani court on Thursday ordered confiscation of the properties owned by the son-in-law of the jailed opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif for skipping an ongoing investigation in connection with bribe charges against him, court record said.

An accountability court in northeastern Lahore city announced the order on the request of the National Accountability Bureau, a state-run anti-corruption agency, which accuses, Ali Imran, Sharif’s son-in-law, of receiving Rs 130 million ($1 million) as bribe in exchange for grating a water contract to a local company.

The NAB claimed that the accused, who had reportedly fled to London, was not joining the investigation despite repeated summoning.

His father-in-law, and a three-time chief minister of the country’s most populous Punjab province is the prime accused in the said case apart from a string of other corruption cases.

The NAB has also summoned Salman Shehbaz, Sharif’s son, over making assets beyond his known sources of income.

Sharif was taken into custody by the NAB authorities in Lahore in connection with a housing scam last week -- a move the opposition parties dubbed as “political victimization.”

The opposition leader is accused of granting illegal contracts to his favorites for the construction of low-cost houses for the poor and middle-class in Punjab -- the country’s political power base.

His elder brother and three-time Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has already been disqualified for life, and given a 10-year jail term in a corruption case. However, Islamabad's High Court suspended the jail term, and granted bail to the former three-time premier last month.