Judge adjourns Al-Azizia, Flagship cases against Sharifs

ISLAMABAD: Accountability Court Judge Muhammad Bashir on Tuesday adjourned the hearing of Al-Azizia and Flagship references against former premier Nawaz Sharif and members of his family till Wednesday (tomorrow).

The judge, who convicted the ex-PM, his daughter and son-in-law in the Avenfield reference, recused himself from hearing the references on Monday after the convicts requested the Islamabad High Court (IHC) to transfer both the pending cases against them to another court.

At the outset of the hearing, Judge Muhammad Bashir said he has referred the Sharifs’ applications with regard to the transfer of the pending cases to another accountability judge to the high court. He added he has also sent an application to the IHC in this regard.

The judge hoped the high court would decide the applications by the evening and adjourned the hearing till tomorrow.

A day earlier, Khawaja Haris, the Sharif family’s lead counsel, urged the IHC to transfer the two pending references against his clients to another accountability judge since the arguments in both cases were similar to the ones in the Avenfield case.

The same judge could hand down a similar verdict in the two references since evidences in both cases were the same, he argued.