Islamabad (November 22, 2017): Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz will appear before the Accountability Court today in connection with the three corruption references filed by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on the directives of Supreme Court, said his party sources.
The accountability court will resume hearing of the three corruption references filed by the NAB against the deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Mayam Nawaz and son-in-law Captain(R) Safdar today.
Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will hold meetings with senior leadership of his party after the hearing in Islamabad, said the sources. Nawaz Sharif accompanied by his daughter Maryam, will leave for Islamabad accountability court early in the morning.
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The court had granted immunity for a month to former PM Nawaz Sharif and a week to Maryam Nawaz during the previous hearing, however they have decided to appear before the court today.
On November 8, the accountability court hearing corruption reference against Sharif family had rejected Nawaz Sharif application pleading the court to club together all the three references against him and hold a single trial.
The court judge Muhammad Bashir resumed proceeding as former prime minister and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif appeared before the court. At the outset of the hearing, the judge pronounced its reserved verdict in the form of short order. In the order the judge rejected the application.
NAB had filed the three references against Nawaz and his family members and one against Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on the directives of Supreme Court of Pakistan in the Panama Case verdict on July 28, 2017.
It is pertinent to mention here that Maryam and Safdar had filed an application seeking a change their indictment on the grounds that their charge-sheet mentions submission of a “false” document [wherein the Calibri font was used].
The application pleads that the document cannot be considered false as the Supreme Court, in the Panama case judgment, had directed the lower court to first establish whether false documents were submitted and then take appropriate action.
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Nawaz counsel Khawaja Haris was of the view that the charges leveled against the Sharifs were common in all three references. The counsel said that nine and 13 witnesses have been named in the Flagship Investment Ltd reference and Al-Azizia Steel Mills reference, respectively. Six witnesses are common in both references and three are common with those of Avenfield flats reference, he observed.
If the same witness is allowed to testify in multiple references, he or she will get time to prepare as they would know what questions the defence counsel is likely to ask and they might alter their statement accordingly, he argued.
Haris pleaded that while three references could remain, a single trial should be held against the accused. If they are found guilty after trial of the central reference, one sentence should be announced.
He said the court had the authority to continue with the proceedings after merging the references, adding that under the law, an accused could not be punished for a crime multiple times.
It is to be mentioned here that a five-member bench of the Supreme Court on July 28 had directed NAB to file references against Nawaz and his children in six weeks in the accountability court and directed the trial court to decide the references within six months.
The Supreme Court also assigned Justice Ijazul Ahsan a supervisory role to monitor the progress of the accountability court proceedings.
NAB had filed three references on Sept 8 against Sharif and his family, and another reference against Finance Minister Ishaq Dar. The three references against the Sharif family are related to the Flagship Investment Ltd, the Avenfield (London) properties and Jeddah-based Al-Azizia Company and Hill Metal Establishment.
The former premier and his sons, Hassan and Hussain, have been named in all three NAB references, while Maryam and husband Safdar have been named only in the Avenfield reference.
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