Former PM appears before accountability court
ISLAMABAD: Incarcerated former prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Monday appeared before the accountability court in Islamabad amid tight security for the hearing of two cases against him.
A number of Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz (PML-N) workers gathered outside the court to show their support for the ousted premier. They attempted to shower rose petals on Sharif but were taken into custody by the police.
Mehboob Alam, the investigation oficer in the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), was supposed to continue his statement in the case but Sharif’s counsel Khawaja Haris pleaded with the court to allow him to cross-examine the star witness, Wajid Zia, irst.
The court accepted the plea and summoned Zia in the next hearing. After Haris’ cross-examination, Zia will record his statement in the other reference.
The prosecution appealed to the court to let the investigation oficer complete his statement before the court, but the judge turned down the plea. The hearing of the case has been adjourned to Aug.27.
On July 6, accountability court Judge Mohammad Bashir had announced the verdict in the London properties reference, handing the ousted prime minister 10 years jail time for owning assets beyond known income and his daughter Maryam seven years for abetment.
Later on July 16, Khawaja Haris iled an appeal in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) for the transfer of the pending references to another accountability court since the arguments in both cases were similar to the ones given in the London lats reference. Days later, Judge Bashir decided to recuse himself from hearing the two pending references.
Subsequently, the IHC transferred two pending references against Sharif from the court of Accountability Judge Mohammad Bashir to another Accountability Judge Arshad Malik.
EXPENSES
During his irst visit to the Prime Minister’s House after his swearing-in, Imran Khan was told that Nawaz Sharif as premier used to pay all the expenses on his family from his own pocket.
Imran asked the Prime Minister Ofice staff about expenditures incurred by Sharif in his tenure as the premier. The oficials told him that Sharif paid all the expenditures from his pocket and never used taxpayers’ money.