Pakistan's controversial anti-corruption watchdog on Monday filed an application in a court seeking resumption of a trial against former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shahbaz on graft charges, in what would be seen as a politically motivated move.
The move by the National Accountability Bureau, which is under the law ministry, to reopen the case came just nine days after Sharif pulled his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party out of the Pakistan Peoples Party-led ruling coalition.
There was no immediate reaction from the Sharif brothers to the move to reopen charges against them. These cases had been indefinitely adjourned last month by an anti-corruption court in Rawalpindi on technical grounds.
Stating that the court's decision on August 21 to adjourn the trial was "mistaken" and contained errors, the NAB said that the anti-corruption court will take up the application for hearing on Thursday.
In these cases, Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shahbaz, the chief minister of Punjab province, are accused of siphoning off millions