ISLAMABAD: The accountability court on Wednesday exempted former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from personal appearance before the court owing to his ill health in two supplementary graft references.
The ousted premier had earlier arrived in the federal capital through a special plane to attend the hearing.
As the hearing began, Sharif’s lead counsel Khawaja Haris pleaded with Judge Muhammad Bashir to exempt his client from personal appearance as he is not feeling well,
The judge granted permission to Sharif to leave after marking his attendance.
During the court proceedings today, two NAB witnesses, Shahid Mahmood and Umar Draz, appeared before the court and recorded their statements.
The defence lawyer cross-examined the prosecution witnesses.
Sharif along with his sons-Hussain and Hassan- has been named in three NAB references, while his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Capt. Safdar have been nominated in a reference with regard to the Sharif family’s London-based Avenfield properties.
The references have been filed by the NAB in compliance with the Supreme Court’s landmark July 28 verdict.
At the last hearing on March 2, the court had recorded statements of three prosecution witnesses in the supplementary corruption references filed against the Sharif family.
Three witnesses including Abdul Hanan, Rizwan Khan and Sunil Ijaz appeared and recorded their statements before the court in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills and Flagship Investments references, while Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Additional Director Wajid Zia, who was also the head of Panamagate Joint Investigation Team (JIT), appeared before the court to record his statement in the Avenfield properties reference.
Foreign remittance from Sharif’s offshore company
At the outset of court proceedings on March 2, NAB prosecution witness Sunil Ijaz, who is banker by profession, recorded his statement.
The witness said he had previously appeared before an investigation officer (IO) of the anti-graft body, namely Abdul Rehman, on January 23, 2018 and provided him with the details of the bank account.
He said the “system-generated” details were about inward foreign remittances from the accounts of Hill Metal Establishment, an offshore company.
The prosecution witness said the documents, which he provided, had remittance details from January, 2013 till January 23, 2018.
Sharif’s lead counsel Khawaja Haris cross-examined him once he recorded his statement.
“Do the details include the purpose of remittances,” Haris asked the witness.
Ijaz responded positively. “All remittances bear the purpose,” he said.
The defence lawyer then asked the witness whether he was inquired about the purpose of remittances.
To which, he responded negatively. “Nobody inquired me about these details,” he added.
At which, the defence counsel asked whether he made a complaint for not being interrogated about the purpose of remittance.
The prosecution witness said it is not done at “branch level”.
Later, two more witnesses appeared before the court and testified in the case. The defence lawyer cross-examined the prosecution witnesses.
