Court adjourns reference against Asif Zardari till June 10

ISLAMABAD: An Accountability Court (AC) on Thursday adjourned the hearing till June 10, on mega money laundering reference against former president Asif Ali Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur.

The court also continued the recording of statement of prosecution witness and manager of a private bank Mehroz Akhtar in the court. The judge instructed the defence lawyer Farook H. Naek to conduct their cross examination with the two witnesses on next date of hearing.

AC-II Judge Muhammad Azam Khan heard the graft reference connected with fake accounts scam filed by National Accountability Bureau (NAB). The court granted one-day exemption from hearing to Asif Zardari, Faryal Talpur, Abdul Ghani Majeed, Imran Khan Aurangzeb on their lawyers’ request.

The court expressed concern over the absence of defence lawyers Farook H. Naek and Amjad Iqbal Qureshi and instructed them to ensure cross examination on next hearing with the two witnesses who had concluded their statements. After this, the hearing on the case was adjourned.

Meanwhile, the same court adjourned hearing on Thatha Water Supply Scheme reference against Asif Ali Zardari and others till June 10. The court granted one-day exemption to Asif Ali Zardari, Abdul Ghani Majeed, Hassan Ali Memon and Nadeem Bhutto. The defence counsel concluded his cross examination with witness Kaleem Shahzad after this the hearing was adjourned.

AC-III Judge Syed Asghar Ali recorded the statement of a witness in Toshakhana reference against former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and ex-president Asif Ali Zardari.

The court granted one-day exemption from hearing to the accused and adjourned the case till June 10, after recording the statement of witness Mushtaq Aziz.