Accountability court judge Muhammad Arshad Malik resumed hearing the Al-Azizia corruption reference against the former premier today.
As the hearing got underway, Judge Muhammad Arshad Malik summoned Nawaz on the rostrum where he asked the former premier if it was correct that he had held public offices. To this, Nawaz affirmed that it was indeed correct; he had served as prime minister three times, chief minister, finance minister and opposition leader.
Nawaz further said that he did not hold any public office from 1999 to 2013, and was in exile from 2000 to 2007.
Nawaz’s counsels objected to some questions listed on the questionnaire, as the former prime minister pointed out that some of the questions were based on rumours while a few others were ambiguous in nature.
During a previous hearing of the reference on October 30th, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) prosecutor Wasiq Malik had informed Judge Muhammad Arshad Malik that the watchdog had completed presenting its evidence against the accused in the reference. A total of 22 witnesses were produced before the accountability court since October last year, following Nawaz’s indictment in the Al-Azizia/Hill Metal Establishment reference, he had told the court.
The accountability court has until November 17 to wrap up the remaining two corruption references – Al-Azizia and Flagship Investments – against the Sharif family. The Supreme Court had granted final extension to the court last month, after its deadline to conclude the trials against the Sharifs had ended on October 7.
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