Pakistan government has decided to reopen corruption cases against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif close on the heels of the Supreme Court taking up his petition seeking an end to his exile.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB), the premier anti-graft body established by President Pervez Musharraf, has moved an application in an Accountability Court of Rawalpindi asking the proceeding of three cases to be reopened on August 15, officials were quoted as saying by Daily Times newspaper.

The three references against Sharif which would be reopened are the Hudaybia Paper Mills case filed in 2002, the Raiwind Property case and the Ittefaq Foundry case.NAB deputy prosecutor Zulfiqar Bhutta refused to comment on the cases. The Supreme Court has fixed August 16 for the hearing of a petition filed by Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shahbaz Sharif seeking their safe return to Pakistan, seven years after they were forced out of the country by Musharraf after a coup.

Meanwhile, Sharif, who resids in London, said he wanted to return to Pakistan as soon as possible but was waiting for the court’s decision.