Daily Times

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) prosecutor presented his arguments on former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s plea to transfer the two remaining corruption references to a different trial court on Monday.

Appearing in the Islamabad High Court, NAB prosecutor Sardar Muzaffar Abbasi maintained that a judge could not be removed from a case just because he had decided on a previous case. “If this precedent is set, then hearing cases of similar nature will become difficult. A new judge will have to be appointed for every other case,” he said, adding that a good lawyer could change the mind of the judge through solid arguments.

The NAB prosecutor also noted that once the accused was indicted, the reference could not be transferred. “The reference is in its last stages thereby the high court will have to decide on this matter now,” he contended.

Abbasi told the court that Judge Bashir had heard the defence’s arguments in Al-Azizia and Flagship references for 10 months. The NAB prosecutor also pointed out that the defence had not petitioned in the Supreme Court against rejection of the plea to club all three references.

Earlier, Justice Aurangzeb observed that the evidence was interlinked in all three corruption references and asked, “How can these interrelated facts be separated? This case is not ordinary in nature. It cannot be compared to the cases we hear on a daily basis.”

The court adjourned the hearing till Wednesday (tomorrow).

During earlier hearings, Sharif’s counsel Khwaja Haris had presented his arguments in support of the petition seeking transfer of hearings of the Al-Azizia and Flagship Investment references from the court of Accountability Judge-I Mohammad Bashir to another accountability court.

The Sharif family has also petitioned the IHC against their convictions in the Avenfield reference. The IHC has clubbed the two references. A two-member bench including Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb is hearing the references.

On July 6, the accountability court had sentenced Nawaz to 11 years, his daughter Maryam Nawaz to eight years, and his son-in-law Capt (retd) Safdar to a one-year in the Avenfield reference.

Published in Daily Times, August 7^th 2018.