IHC directs NAB to submit Al-Azizia reference record within three weeks
The court has issued notice to NAB and adjourned the hearing for three weeks.
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday has sought record of Al-Azizia reference against Sharif family from National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in three weeks.
Justice Amir Farooq and Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kiyani heard the bail plea of ex-prime minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif.
During the hearing, Justice Amir asked Sharif’s lawyer Khawaja Haris to present his stance over which the counsel said that NAB prepared whole reference on Panama Joint Investigation Team (JIT) report. The team has failed to present the witnesses named in the report, he told.
Subsequently, the court has issued notices to NAB and adjourned the hearing for three weeks.
The accountability court on December 24 convicted Sharif in the Al-Azizia reference and sentenced him to seven years in prison, and acquitted him in the Flagship reference case filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in Mega corruption scandal.
In the 131-page judgement written by the accountability court judge Arshad Malik, reasons of his conviction were mentioned. It said that the prosecution has successfully established all the ingredients of the offence of corruption committed by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, and that he has failed to provide legal money trail of his assets.
The NAB had filed three cases -- Avenfield, Al-Azizia Steel Mills and Hill Metal Establishment, and offshore companies, including Flagship Investment Limited -- against the Sharifs on the Supreme Court’s directives in the July 2017 Panamagate verdict. The trial commenced later in September that year.
