Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: An accountability court on Thursday accepted former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s request for exemption from appearance for the hearing of Al-Azizia corruption reference.

The court adjourned the hearing of the case till September 17 after Khawaja Haris, counsel for Nawaz, cross questioned prosecution’s star witness and Panamagate Joint Investigation Team (JIT) head Wajid Zia. Haris filed a request for exemption from appearance on Nawaz’s behalf which the court accepted. The former premier is currently in Lahore on parole for his wife, Begum Kusloom’s, funeral.

As the hearing went underway, Haris asked Zia whether volume 10 of the JIT report was sealed when it was submitted to the Supreme Court. Zia said that it was not sealed. The judge adjourned the case till September 17 (Monday). The trial against the Sharif family had commenced on September 14, 2017. Nawaz and his sons, Hussain and Hasan, are accused in all three references whereas Maryam and Safdar were accused in the Avenfield reference only. The two brothers, based abroad, have been absconding since the proceedings began last year and were declared proclaimed offenders by the court.

Published in Daily Times, September 14^th 2018.