ISLAMABAD: Maryam Nawaz, the daughter of deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif, showed up before an accountability court today to face a National Accountability Bureau (NAB) reference in connection with the Sharif family’s London properties.

Maryam reached the court amid tight security and extensive protocol. She was accompanied by ministers, and senior PML-N leaders.

Judge Muhammad Bashir supplied her a copy of the reference along with relevant material to peruse and called a short recess until her spouse, retired Captain Muhammad Safdar, was produced before him by the NAB.

She furnished a surety bond of Rs5 million to secure bail in the case.

The court also granted bail to Safdar against a surety bond of Rs5 million and ordered his release.

He was taken into custody by NAB shorty after he landed at Benazir Bhutto International Airport along with his wife Maryam in the early hours of Monday morning.

The judge rejected the request of Nawaz Sharif’s counsel to adjourn the cases for two weeks so that his client could return from London and appear before it. He set Oct 13 for his, Maryam and Safdar’s indictment.

Advocate Khawaja Harris told the judge that Sharif couldn’t appear because he is in London, taking care of his ailing wife Kulsoom Nawaz.

The court declared Hussain and Hassan absconders after their perpetual absence from proceedings.

The NAB prosecutor requested the judge to initiate proceedings to declare the absconding accused as proclaimed offenders and order attachment of their properties, arguing that they did not want to join proceedings.

Maryam and her spouse returned to Pakistan to appear in accountability court in connection with a reference related to the Sharif family’s flats in a posh London neighbuorhood.