Nawaz's lawyer presents final arguments in Avenfield case

ISLAMABAD: Khawaja Haris, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s lawyer, on Wednesday picked up his concluding arguments in the Avenfield properties case where he left off yesterday.

Judge Muhammad Bashir is presiding over the trial proceedings in the federal capital.

Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz didn’t appear as they have been granted exemption from personal appearance for four days.

The former premier along with his daughter is in London due to the critical condition of his wife Kulsoom Nawaz who has been on life-support machines in an intensive care unit of a London hospital after she suffered a heart attack a few days back.

Advocate Haris argued that the prosecution is obliged to prove its case beyond any shadow of doubt after which the burden of proof is put on accused persons, but it didn’t follow the law in the case at hand.

He reiterated that the former PM doesn’t own the flats in a posh London neighborhood. If the source of his client’s income couldn’t be found, how come NAB found anomalies in his assets and income, he asked.

A day earlier,  Haris moved an application in the court requesting it to quash his earlier application through which he sought to recuse himself from representing the erstwhile PM in three corruption references.

The judge granted the lawyer’s request to take back his earlier decision to withdraw his power of attorney.