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AC Adjourns Al-Azizia Hearing Over Begum Kulsoom’s Death

Islamabad (September 12, 2018): NAB Court on Wednesday adjourned the hearing of the corruption reference against former Prime Minister till Thursday.

Accountability Court II Judge Arshad Malik was presiding over the case.

As the hearing went underway, defence counsel Khawaja Haris apprised the court that Nawaz’s wife Begum Kulsoom had passed away. Stating that he was informed today that Nawaz had been taken to Lahore on parole after Begum Kulsoom’s death, Haris said he had not received instructions to continue with the proceedings in his client’s absence.

Judge Malik then remarked that Begum Kulsoom was a national figure and it was not appropriate to continue with the proceedings today.

The hearing was then adjourned till Thursday. Al-Azizia Reference: AC Rejects Postponement PleaEarlier on September 11, the NAB court rejected a postponement plea by the defence counsel in Al Azizia Steel Mills Reference Case against former Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif.

The accountability court judge Arshad Malik noted that the Supreme Court has ordered the references to be closed in six weeks.

The legal assistant of defence counsel Sher Afghan Asadi apprised the accountability court that Khawaja Haris was unable to attend the hearing as he was attending the Islamabad High Court hearing of the petitions pertaining to suspension of the Avenfield verdict. “The IHC hears petitions [pertaining to the Avenfield verdict] on a daily basis,” Asaid said. To this, the judge noted that the accountability court also hears the corruption references on a daily basis.

National Accountability Bureau’s prosecutor general Sardar Muzaffar Abbasi said the anti-graft body’s witness Wajid Zia was present for cross-examination.

Noting that the court had only four weeks till the Supreme Court’s deadline expires, the accountability judge refused the request to postpone the hearing till Thursday.  Al Azizia Steel Mills Hearing To Resume TodayEarlier on September  10, former PM, Nawaz Sharif was presented before an accountability court in Islamabad as it resumed hearing of Al-Azizia/Hill Metal Establishment reference.

Accountability Judge Arshad Malik presided over the trial proceedings. Sharif was brought to the court from Adiala jail amid tight security.

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The former premier’s lawyer, Khawaja Haris, cross-examined star witness, Wajid Zia who had headed a joint investigation team that probed the Sharif family’s wealth on the directives of the top court.

During the course of cross-examination, Zia said there are certain documents on the record to show that the Hill Metal Establishment was a company.

The company’s service documents were solicited through a request under the Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) on June 20, he added.

Earlier on September 07, the defence continued the cross-examination of prosecution witness Wajid Zia.

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

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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. Haris then inquired if Zia could understand the language. To this, the latter responded in affirmative, stating that he had spent some time in the Kingdom hence he was somewhat acquainted with the language.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.

Background

The trial against the Sharif family commenced on September 14, 2017.

On July 6, after four extensions in the original six-month deadline to conclude all three cases, the court announced its verdict in the Avenfield reference.

Nawaz and his sons, Hussain and Hasan, are accused in all three references whereas Maryam and Safdar were accused in the Avenfield reference only.The two brothers, based abroad, have been absconding since the proceedings began last year and were declared proclaimed offenders by the court.

On July 10, the Supreme Court granted another six-week extension for Accountability Court-I Judge Mohammad Bashir to conclude the remaining corruption references against Nawaz and former finance minister Ishaq Dar.

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Al-Azizia Reference: AC Rejects Postponement Plea