ISLAMABAD: National Accountability Bureau (NAB) prosecutor on Wednesday told the court that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif received 88 per cent profit of Hill Metal Establishment (HME).
Accountability court II Judge Mohammad Arshad Malik resumed hearing of the two remaining corruption references, after Tuesday’s session.
During the hearing, Sharif’s lawyer, Khawaja Haris, cross-examined Wajid Zia and posed questions about the cash flow and net profit of HME. The two, once again, exchanged heated verbal blows.
Khawaja remarked that Zia was grilled because of his dishonesty. These provoking remarks from Nawaz’s counsel angered NAB’s deputy prosecutor, Sardar Muzaffar Abbasi, who raised objections over the use of inappropriate terms.
Judge Malik too raised the objection over Khawaja’s tactics of repeatedly asking the same question from Zia and barred Nawaz’s counsel from going into technicalities and asked him not to divert attention from the case.
To this, Haris replied he had been practising law for 40 years and Zia knew why such questions were posed before him.
The judge also instructed Wajid Zia to avoid any unnecessary details during the discussions, to which Zia replied that in English language, even a comma matters.
The hearing was then adjourned till Thursday.
On Tuesday, Khawaja termed Zia a dishonest man which prompted a protest from latter, leading the Nawaz’s counsel to retract his statement.
On August 27, CJP headed a three-judge bench comprising of Justice Umar Ata Bandial and Justice Ijazul Ahsan which ordered a six-week extension in the deadline for concluding the Al-Azizia and Flagship Investment references. It was the fifth extension, since, the start of the trial against ‘house of Nawaz’ on September 14, 2017, after the disqualification of Nawaz Sharif on July 28, 2017.
The court is yet to record the statements of star-witness Wajid Zia and the investigation officer in Flagship reference, while, in Al-Azizia reference, Wajid’s cross-examination is continuing and the investigation officer has partially recorded his statement. After this, accused Nawaz and his sons [who are now absconders] would have to record their statements. And, finally, both the prosecution and defence would argue over the case.
