NAB court adjourns Nawaz’s corruption references till July 30

• “Transfer of the case to another court does not come under his jurisdiction,” remarks Judge Bashir

• With regards to conducting the trial inside Adiala, the judge remarks that it is not a simple matter where one can pick up everything and start hearing the case inside the jail

ISLAMABAD: The Accountability Court-I on Wednesday resumed the hearing of Al Azizia and Flagship corruption references against deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

Nawaz’s lawyer, Khawaja Haris, appeared before the court for the hearing.

As the hearing resumed, Haris reiterated his objection to the proceedings being heard by the same judge that has already given the verdict in one of the three references against his client.

Upon this, Judge Muhammad Bashir remarked that he has already written about the issue to the high court, adding transfer of the case to another court does not come under his jurisdiction.

Meanwhile, NAB Deputy Prosecutor General Sardar Muzaffar Abbasi told the court that Islamabad High Court (IHC) has not issued any stay order on the trial proceedings and asked for the cases’ continuation.

“It will appropriate if the same judge who has seen the cases since day one hears the trial in its concluding phase,” Abbasi argued.

With regards to conducting the trial inside Adiala, the judge remarked that it is not a simple matter where one can pick up everything and start hearing the case inside the jail.

Nawaz’s counsel, meanwhile, claimed that objective behind the jail trial is simple: to prevent his client from being heard and seen before general elections on July 25.

“I will not become part of the proceedings until the IHC rules on their plea to transfer the cases to another judge and the trial court,” Haris added.

The court then adjourned the hearing till July 30.

On the last hearing on Tuesday, Haris was due to cross-examine prosecution main witness Wajid Zia, however, the primary defence counsel failed to appear in the court.

As the hearing went underway on Tuesday, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) prosecutor Afzal Qureshi appeared in the court and told the court that Sharif family’s appeal has been fixed for hearing in Islamabad High Court (IHC) for later that day on Tuesday.

Judge Muhammad Bashir then decided to adjourn the hearing till the IHC’s ruling on the appeal.

Later, when IHC took up the appeal, the court issued notices to NAB and adjourned the hearing till last week of July.