New IHC bench to take up Sharifs’ appeals against Avenfield verdict on 10th

–Wajid Zia tells accountability court he did not write any letter to Saudi govt with reference to Al-Azizia Steel Mills case

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday constituted a new bench to hear petitions challenging the Sharif family’s conviction in the Avenfield properties reference, as the lawyer for deposed premier Nawaz Sharif continued cross-examination of Wajid Zia in the Al-Azizia corruption reference in the accountability court.

Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Mian Gull on the IHC will start hearing the petitions on September 10.

Accountability Judge Mohammad Bashir, on July 6, 2017, had convicted Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Captain (r) Mohammad Safdar in the Avenfield properties reference and sentenced them to 10 years, seven years and one year, respectively, in prison.

On July 16, the Sharifs and Captain Safdar had filed appeals for the Avenfield verdict to be overturned. Their lawyers had also filed petitions that argued that until the IHC adjudicates on the appeals against the accountability court’s decision, the convicts should be released on bail.

In the appeals, counsel Khawaja Haris had argued that the prosecution must establish its case beyond a shadow of a doubt in order to shift the onus of proof on the accused, but in the Avenfield properties reference the prosecution failed to establish such a case.

Referring to a 2007 judgement of the Sindh High Court passed in the Hakim Ali Zardari case, Haris had explained that to establish its case, the prosecution was required to establish four points — (a) the accused was holder of public office, (b) nature and extent of pecuniary resources or property which were found in his possession, (c) what were his known sources of income i.e. known to the prosecution after thorough investigation and (d) such resources or property found in possession of the accused were disproportionate to his known sources of income.

“There is no burden of proof on the accused when the prosecution can not prove these four ingredients,” the counsel insisted in the appeal.

The court had subsequently ordered that the appeal against the verdict be fixed for hearing in September.

After hearing the petitions for the convicts’ interim release on bail in detail, the court had issued an interim order that read:

“Section 32 of the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO), 1999 provides for a time frame for deciding the appeals. Since the learned division bench has directed fixing of the appeals, at this stage we are not inclined to decide these petitions and they shall remain pending and be fixed along with the appeals. In case, there is delay in deciding of the appeals then the petitioners shall be at liberty to press these petitions.”

The court had subsequently directed the Supreme Court Registrar’s Office fix the case immediately after the summer vacations.

ACCOUNTABILITY COURT PROCEEDINGS: 

Separately, key prosecution witness Wajid Zia admitted in the accountability court on Friday that he did not write any letter to the Saudi government regarding the Al-Azizia Steel Mills corruption reference against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

During the hearing, Zia read Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) documents from the sealed volume 10 — obtained from the Supreme Court — to answer defence lawyer Khawaja Haris’ questions.

The NAB witness apprised the court that according to the documents, “The Hill Metal Establishment is associated with the steel industry.”

He further said that Nawaz’s son Hussain appeared before the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) on June 3, after which, he was included in the probe.

Zia further said that neither did he write a letter to the Saudi government to verify the information provided by Hussain, nor confirmed the registration number of the company that the latter had provided.

According to the NAB witness, a few documents provided by Hussain were in Arabic.

Furthermore, Zia apprised the court that it was important to ascertain whether Hill Metal Establishment was a sole proprietorship or partnership. He also stated that this question was not specifically included in the MLA.

Later, the hearing was adjourned till September 10.

September 7 marks a year since the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) filed three corruption references against the Sharif family.