Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Former premier Nawaz Sharif, daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Captain (r) Safdar on Tuesday appeared before Accountability Court. This was Nawaz’s 12th appearance before the accountability court on the cases filed by National Accountability Bureau (NAB), reported daily Times.

NAB had filed references against Sharif family in September last year pertaining to al-Azizia Steel Mills, Avenfield apartments and offshore companies including Flagship Investment Ltd.

Earlier, four out of the five witnesses scheduled to record their statements today appeared before the court. Sidrah Mansoor, Joint Registrar of Security and Exchange Commission Pakistan (SECP), apprised the court about the details of Nawaz’s son Hussain Nawaz’s shares in Mehran Ramzan Textile Mills.

Sharif family’s lawyer Khawaja Haris told Sidrah Mansoor that the court was hearing a different case while the details presented by her were related to another company. Sidrah responded that she was told by the NAB prosecutor the investigation was regarding al-Azizia and Hill Metal Establishment. “The NAB prosecutor asked me no questions about Azizia Steel Mills and Hill Metal Establishment. According to the record though, no transaction of Ramzan Mehran Textile Mills had taken place with Al-Azizia or Hill Metal Establishment. The NAB prosecutor didn’t ask any question on the transactions either”, she stated.

Mansoor added that she recorded the statement after reading NAB’s documents and those documents hadn’t been prepared in her presence. She also presented to the court the original documents, the copies of which had been submitted with NAB. The Form-A of Mehran Ramzan Textile Mills 2003 was incomplete. The witness said that the remaining half was missing.

Witness Muhammad Saleem also recorded his statement and was questioned by Khawaja Haris. NAB Assistant Director Uzair Rehan and Muhammad Zubair also recorded their statements in Al-Azizia Steel Mill reference. Witness in Avenfield properties reference Umar Daraz Gondal was unable to make it to the court due to illness.

Next hearing will be held on January 16. Witnesses Umar Daraz, Nasir Junejo and Afaq Ahmad have been summoned to record statements.

Nawaz talks to media inside the court room:

While talking to the journalists inside the court room, Nawaz Sharif asked them if they were able to understand what the case was about.

Journalists were of the opinion that most of the witnesses had stated that they hadn’t prepared the documents. They also opined that most witnesses had also stated there were no irregularities in the documents.

Nawaz Shairf asked why these reports never made it to the media.