An accountability court in Islamabad on Tuesday ordered the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) to attach the shares held by ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif's sons — Hussain and Hassan Nawaz — in various companies in Pakistan.

With the attachment, the shares held by the Sharif sons will become part of case record and will remain in the court's custody. In case the court rules against the accused in the corruption references filed against them by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), the shares will be auctioned off.

The court had declared Hassan and Hussain proclaimed offenders earlier this month for repeatedly failing to appear before the court in connection with the references.

On Tuesday, NAB prosecutor Afzal Qureshi submitted to the court a report detailing assets held by Hassan and Hussain in Pakistan. The Bureau has already frozen the assets of the two brothers.

According to the report, the duo holds shares in six companies in Pakistan, as per SECP records.

The court directed SECP to attach shares held by both accused after seizing them. The proceedings concerning assets of Hassan and Hussain were subsequently adjourned until November 14.

While declaring the former premier's sons proclaimed offenders, the accountability court had also issued perpetual warrants for their arrest and separated their trial from other members of the family.

Asked at the time when her brothers, Hassan and Hussain, would appear before the court, Maryam Nawaz had said that they would take their decisions themselves.

"My brothers live abroad... the laws of here [Pakistan] don't apply to them."

NAB references

A five-member bench of the Supreme Court on July 28 had directed NAB to file references against Nawaz and his children in six weeks in the accountability court and directed the trial court to decide the references within six months. The Supreme Court also assigned Justice Ijazul Ahsan a supervisory role to monitor the progress of the accountability court proceedings.

The former premier and his sons have been named in all three NAB references, while daughter Maryam and her husband retired Captain Muhammad Safdar have been named only in the Avenfield reference.