National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) President Saeed Ahmed and Javed Kayani, a friend of Nawaz Sharif, appeared before a National Accountability Bureau (NAB) investigation team in Lahore on Monday to record their statements in the ongoing references against Ishaq Dar's assets and the Sharifs' Avenfield properties in London, DawnNews reported.

NAB also offered to make Ahmed and Kayani approvers against the Sharif family and Dar during the course of today's meeting, bureau sources privy to the matter said. The two are yet to accept NAB's offer.

The decision was taken in order to ease the process of filing references and undertaking convictions, the sources claimed, adding that NAB, in return, would not taken any action against Ahmed and Kayani.

A team headed by DG NAB Lahore is carrying out the investigation, the sources said.

Ahmed had been summoned by the JIT due to his involvement in the Hudaibiya Paper Mills case, which the JIT was examining as part of its probe into the Sharif family's murky business dealings abroad.

Ahmed's name had come into the national limelight when, after the Musharraf coup in 1998, current Finance Minister Ishaq Dar had declared him a "close friend" and claimed that Ahmed's accounts had been used to 'handle' the Sharif family's finances.

"The previously-opened foreign currency accounts of Saeed Ahmed, one of the former directors of FHMC and a close friend of mine, and of Mussa Ghani, the nephew of my wife, were also used to deposit huge foreign currency funds provided by the Sharif family to offer them as collateral to obtain different and indirect credit lines," Dar had said in his 'confession' in the Hudaibiya case.

However, Dar had later disowned his statement and said it had been taken under duress.

Earlier, Ahmed had informed a Supreme Court-appointed joint investigation team (JIT) that he had no knowledge of any account in his name linked with laundering money.

Javed Kayani records statement

The combined investigation team also questioned Javed Kayani for his alleged involvement in the Al-Taufeeq case, the Hudaibiya Mills case and on charges of illegally transferring money to purchase the Avenfield flats.

Kayani had admitted in front of the JIT that he opened fake accounts on the instructions of ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif's friend Sheikh Saeed.

NAB sources claim that he was also involved in laundering money for Sharif and helped in transferring millions of rupees to foreign banks through fake accounts to purchase Avenfield apartments in 1992, 93 and 94.

According to NAB sources, Phil Barry, "a US national and a very old acquaintance", brought Sheikh Saeed unsigned travellers cheques, which were converted to dollar-denominated bearer certificates by Kayani. The certificates were then transferred to Prime Minister House and Model Town, the sources say.

Sharif family members summoned by NAB again

Ex-PM Nawaz Sharif, his sons Hassan and Hussain, his daughter Maryam, and his son-in-law Capt Safdar were summoned by NAB investigators in connection to the Avenfields flat reference.

They have been sent a notice asking them to appear before the NAB team in Lahore on Tuesday. This is the third time Nawaz, Hassan and Hussain have been summoned, and the second time Maryam and Capt Safdar have been summoned by the bureau.

Earlier today, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar was also issued a notice to appear before NAB on Tuesday.