–Court orders prosecution to present final arguments in Al-Azizia reference
ISLAMABAD: The accountability court (AC) on Wednesday handed over a questionnaire to former prime minister Nawaz Sharif for recording his statement under Section 342 in the Flagship Investment reference.
Accountability Court Judge Arshad Malik resumed the hearing of the reference in the presence of the former premier on Thursday. The former premier, in reference to his family’s financial history, said that his father had imported the first American Chevrolet and other sports cars. He further said that the people who had used the equipment of his family’s Ittefaq Steel Mills were also ready to appear before the court as witnesses.
Later, the questionnaire consisting of 62 questions was handed over to the defence after Nawaz’s counsel Khawaja Haris concluded his cross-examination of National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) Investigation Officer (IO) Muhammad Kamran. The accountability watchdog would also submit its statement in the court regarding the completion of evidence in the said reference.
Earlier, NAB IO Kamran informed the trial court that former premier did not mention certain companies owned by his son Hassan Nawaz during his address on the floor of National Assembly (NA). However, the accused collectively talked about the businesses owned by his sons abroad, he added. He further said that Nawaz did not hold any public office from 1999 to 2013.
COURT ORDERS PROSECUTION TO PRESENT FINAL ARGUMENTS IN AL-AZIZIA REFERENCE:
The accountability court, while hearing the Al-Azizia Still Mills reference against the Sharif family, ordered NAB to give its final arguments in the case.
Judge Arshad Malik announced the court’s decision over the issue of final arguments in the case, which had been reserved during the last hearing after listening to the objections of both sides.
In the last hearing, NAB’s prosecutor had requested the court to order the defence lawyer to present the final arguments in the case as the accused had submitted some new documents in his defence. However, Nawaz’s counsel said that the documents were presented in the accused’s defence, and opposed to prosecution’s request.
