Daily Times

Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz, and son-in-law Captain (retd) Safdar will record their statements in the Avenfield properties reference on Friday. The order was given by the accountability court as it resumed hearing of the reference against the former premier and his family on Wednesday.

Accountability Court-I Judge Mohammad Bashir observed that the accused will be given a questionnaire about Friday’s session proceedings. At the previous hearing on Tuesday, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) prosecutor Sardar Muzaffar Abbasi had pleaded the court to record the statement of Nawaz and his family. After Nawaz’s counsel Khawaja Haris and Abbasi completed their arguments on the request, the court reserved its verdict on the plea. On Wednesday, it ruled later that it would prepare a questionnaire to be presented to the accused as a prelude to recording of their statement.

Also on Wednesday, Nawaz’s counsel began cross-examining prosecution’s star witness, Wajid Zia, who headed the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) formed in the Panama Papers case, with regards to the Al-Azizia reference. Zia is an additional director at the Federal Investigation Agency.

The hearing of the Al Azizia reference has been adjourned til Monday, when the cross-examination will continue.

Zia had previously testified against the Sharif family in Avenfield reference, after which Advoocate Harris cross-examined him for 10 days. The Al-Azizia Steel Mills reference is among the three filed against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his family by the NAB last year on the Supreme Court’s directives. Others pertain to the Hill Metal Establishment, offshore companies including Flagship Investment Ltd, and Avenfield properties of London. NAB had earlier filed interim references in all three cases and later added supplementary references to them with new evidence and witnesses.

Nawaz and sons Hussain and Hasan are accused in all three references whereas his daughter Maryam and son-in-law Safdar are accused in the Avenfield reference only. The court originally had a deadline of six months which ended in mid-March but was extended for two months after the judge requested the apex court. Later, on May 9, the trial court’s second plea for a deadline extension was approved by the Supreme Court which gave a month to both sides to finish the corruption cases.

Published in Daily Times, May 17^th 2018.