- Khawaja Haris says ‘court can’t do justice under such pressure’
ISLAMABAD: An accountability court adjourned the hearing of Al-Azizia reference against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Monday as the ousted prime minister’s counsel Khawaja Haris recused himself from fighting his case in the corruption references filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against the Sharif family.
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.
During the Monday’s proceedings, the lawyer and his team walked out of the case, stating that they cannot perform under such pressure. Haris said the Supreme Court had instructed the accountability court to wrap up the proceedings in a month and to conduct hearings on Saturday. “The court can’t do justice to the case under this pressure,” Haris maintained.
The top court had “dictated on completing the trial within a month”, he remarked.
On Sunday, the Supreme Court — while granting the accountability court a 30-day extension and deadline to wrap up all three references — had suggested that the hearings for the case be held on a daily basis, even on Saturdays.
Following the withdrawal of his power of attorney, the accountability judge asked Nawaz if he would like to engage another lawyer or would he attempt to convince Haris to continue with the case.
To this, Nawaz replied that he needs some time to make a decision in this regard and requested the court to adjourn proceedings for a few days.
Khawaja Haris was scheduled to cross-examine NAB’s star witness and Panamagate Joint Investigation Team (JIT) head Wajid Zia.
Haris and his legal team had submitted multiple pleas on behalf of Nawaz asking for the simultaneous recording of statements from head of the investigation team Wajid Zia. However, all pleas to club the references were rejected and dismissed. Haris expressed his displeasure at the “miscarriage of justice” which the SC promised earlier would not be the outcome.
Earlier in May, the apex court gave an extension till June 9, a two-judge special bench of the court, comprising Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed and Justice Ijazul Ahsan, however, declined Nawaz’s lawyer’s contentions to extend the deadline by three months.
“We are confident that both sides namely the prosecution and the defence will cooperate. In any event, miscarriage of justice will not be allowed,” said the order.
After the dictation of the order, Haris had said it would not be possible for him to complete the proceedings in a month. “It would also be embarrassing for the accountability judge and the lawyers to appear repeatedly before the apex court to request extensions,” he further had stated.
