Avenfield case: Nawaz, Maryam get exemption from court appearance

ISLAMABAD: An accountability court of Islamabad on Tuesday granted a request by former premier Nawaz Sharif, and his daughter Maryam Nawaz for exemption from personal appearance during today’s trial proceedings. 

Judge Muhammad Bashir resumed hearing of the Avenfield properties reference.

Khawaja Haris, the counsel for the Sharif family, filed an application on behalf of Sharif and his daughter for exemption from personal appearance, which was granted by the judge.

He informed that his clients had to return home from Lahore airport after their special aircraft was not allowed to take off owing to bad weather conditions.

Sharif’s son-in-law Capt (retd) Safdar, however, appeared in the court.

The defense counsel continued today cross-examining star witness Wajid Zia, head of the Panama Joint Investigation Team (JIT).

Earlier, Zia had placed on the record three letters in connection with Mutual Legal Assistance for a probe into the offences allegedly committed by the Sharif family’s offshore companies and Qatari Prince Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al Thani’s letter to the Supreme Court.

Amjad Pervaiz, representing Maryam and Safdar, objected to submission of the letters, asking why were they not submitted to the court before.

The court, however, allowed the witness to furnish these letters and made them part of the proceedings.

In his statement, Zia told the court that the Sharif family submitted forged trust deeds with regard to the ownership of the flats to mislead the Supreme Court and JIT.