ISLAMABAD: An accountability court in Islamabad on Tuesday rejected a request by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif to hear closing arguments in all three corruption references filed against him together.
The former premier through his counsel moved a miscellaneous application in the court, requesting the judge to hear together final arguments in all the cases filed against his client by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
After hearing initial arguments, accountability judge Muhammad Bashir rejected the application and said the defence counsel can challenge rejection in a high court.
In the application, Sharif’s lawyer pleaded that the court should defer final arguments in the Avenfield reference until prosecution witness Wajid Zia completes his deposition in two other references so that closing arguments could be forwarded together in all the references.
He argued that similar volumes of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) report were produced in all the references and some witnesses including the JIT head were also the same. Therefore, it is incorrect to suggest that facts varied in these cases, he added.
As the deadline set for the accountability court to decide the cases is expiring on June 09. the judge a day earlier said he would write to the apex court, requesting it to extend the deadline for conclusion of the trial of the Sharif family members.
On May 09, the top court had granted a second extension to conclude the trial until June 09.
