Islamabad (October 20, 2017): The accountability court Islamabad indicted former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in another NAB Reference relating to Flagship Investment and other offshore companies.
The accountability court Judge Muhammad Bashir resumed hearing of the NAB reference today.
Nawaz Sharif did not turn up for the hearing for being abroad. His pleader Zafir Khan was present in the court.
The judge read out the charges to the pleader. Nawaz Sharif through Zafir Khan pleaded not guilty and opted to contest the charges. Nawaz Sharif and his two sons Hussain Nawaz and Hassan Nawaz have been named accused in the reference filed by NAB on the instructions of Supreme Court given on July 28 judgement in Panama Papers case.
However, the court has already separated the trails of Hussain and Hassan for not appearing before it and ordered initiating process to declare them proclaimed offenders.
The same court indicted Nawaz in Al-Azizia Company reference on Thursday, besides indicting him and his daughter and son-in law in Avenfield Properties reference filed by National Accountability Bureau.
Accountability Court Judge Mohammad Bashir indicted had Sharif in the Avenfield Properties and Al-Azizia Company references through his pleader, while charges against Maryam Nawaz Sharif and retired Captain Mohammad Saf dar were framed in their presence.
The Sharif family, meanwhile, pleaded not guilty, claiming that they were denied the fundamental right to a fair trial.
As per Mr Sharif`s pleader, the Supreme Court’s judgement of July 28 in the Panama Papers case was `unprecedented` and denied him his `fundamental rights which the Constitution guaranteed for every citizen for being treated in accordance with law`.
According to the former three-time prime minister, the apex court`s directions to conclude the trial within six months and the appointment of a monitoring judge to supervise the trial was against constitutional provisions that ensured the dignity of citizens and the right to fair and transparent proceedings.
The pleader read out Mr Sharif`s statement after the accountability judge read out charges against him in the Avenfield Properties reference.
Likewise, Maryam also came to the rostrum, when the judge started reading charges against her. She pleaded not guilty and said: `I wish to declare that I refuse to accept the charge sheet.
She said that the allegations against her were based on a frivolous report, prepared by a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) with mala fide intentions, adding that the report itself was a mockery of justice.
The accountability court indicted the Sharif family under Section 9(a) of the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) for owning assets beyond their known sources of income.
As per the charge sheet, the Sharif family failed to substantiate the purchase of the Avenfield Properties, which include flats 16, 16-A, 17 and 17-A situated at Avenfield House, Park Lane, London.
The court also charged them with failing to account for the acquisition of these properties through lawful means.
The charge sheet said that the accused had produced documents that were subsequently found to be fake and fabricated.
Earlier, the same court had dismissed four applications filed by the Sharif family, one after another. One application sought the provision of Volume 10 of the JIT report, while another asked for the statement of three witnesses: National Bank of Pakistan CEO Saeed Ahmed, Javed Kayani and Basharat Ahmed Shahzad.
A third application was filed to stay trial proceedings since the ex-PM had filed a petition before the Supreme Court to convert the three references into one. The fourth application, meanwhile, asked the accountability court to consolidate all prosecution evidence for the expeditious disposal of the case.
The accountability court judge heard these applications at successive intervals and dismissed them all one after the other.
The main reason for the dismissal was the apex court`s judgement of July 28, which directed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to file separate references against Mr Sharif.
NAB Deputy Prosecutor General Sardar Muzaffar Abbasi opposing the handing over of Volume 10 of the JIT report to the accused, saying that the apex court deliberately did not provide it to them.
Related News:
