- Former PM requests court to hear all three references against Sharif family together
ISLAMABAD: The accountability court dismissed Tuesday the miscellaneous petition, submitted by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, requesting for postponement of final arguments in the Avenfield case, in order for all three references to be heard together.
Nawaz and his family members are facing three corruption references in the accountability court — Avenfield Properties, Al-Azizia Steel Mills and Flagship Investments — in which they are accused of money laundering, tax evasion and hiding offshore assets.
“You may challenge this verdict in the high court,” remarked Accountability Judge Muhammad Bashir after dismissing the petition.
The court then ordered to resume cross-examination of Panamagate Joint Investigation Team (JIT) head Wajid Zia in Al-Azizia reference.
In response to this, junior defence counsel Saad Hashmi requested a 15-minute break to discuss the matter with Nawaz’s legal counsel Khawaja Harris.
Earlier, Hashmi, who submitted the petition on Nawaz’s behalf, remarked that the National Accountability Bureau’s claims that the facts in all three references are different are “incorrect”.
“NAB brought Gulf Steel Mills, Qatari letter in all the references,” he said, adding that the witnesses in the references are also the same.
“The final arguments should be postponed till Wajid Zia and investigating officer record their statements in remaining two references,” the petition states.
All three references have been formed on the basis of Panamagate JIT report, which was ordered by the apex court to probe assets of the Sharif family, Hashmi added.
Sardar Muzaffar Abbasi, NAB’s prosecutor, had said on the other hand that the prosecution is ready for final arguments, but the defence appears to be avoiding and seeking arguments to postpone proceedings.
He had said that the accountability court had fixed the case for final arguments in the presence of the counsel from both sides, but the defence seemed to be reluctant to argue their case and to conclude it in the interest of justice.
He had requested the court to dismiss the application.
Nawaz left the court shortly after filing the petition.
