ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif on Monday appeared before the Accountability Court to attend the hearing of the Flagship Investment reference case.
The court is expected to handover the questionnaire to Nawaz Sharif.
On the other hand, lead defence counsel Khawaja Harris continued the cross-examination of the last prosecution witness Mohammad Kamran, the investigation officer in the reference.
The accountability court on Friday had granted Sharif a one-day exemption from personal appearance.
Earlier, Nawaz Sharif had said that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) prosecutor has failed to provide evidence to prove his indictment in the case.
He also refused to present any witness in his defence.
It is worth mentioning here that the cases against the Nawaz family stemmed from the Panama Papers leak that disclosed expensive and undeclared properties allegedly owned by them in London.
The former PM, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Captain Safdar were convicted and sentenced to prison for ten years, seven years and one year respectively in the Avenfield verdict. The convictions were however suspended by the Islamabad High Court (IHC).
Earlier on November 19, the Supreme Court (SC) had granted a further three-week extension to the accountability court hearing the Al-Azizia and Flagship references against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif to wrap up the cases, as the latter claimed that the Panamagate Joint Investigation Team’s (JIT) probe against him was biased and politically motivated.
Responding to Accountability Judge Arshad Malik’s request for more time to conclude the anti-graft trials against the former premier, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar said that this will be the final extension for the trials, and no more time will be given afterwards.
On November 16, Nawaz had distanced himself from the ownership of Al-Azizia Steel Mills, a day after he refused to own up the Qatari letters that were submitted to the top court in his favour during the hearing of the Panama Papers case.
Recording his statement before the accountability court hearing, Nawaz had admitted that he had received money from outside the country but had added that 77 per cent of it was gifted to his daughter, Maryam Nawaz.
from Pakistan Today
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