Court adjourns hearing against Sharif family till Jan 9

ISLAMABAD: An Accountability Court (AC) here on Wednesday testified three witnesses and adjourned hearing in graft references against Sharif family members till January 9.

The court also summoned six more prosecution witnesses to record their statements on next date of hearing.

AC Judge Muhammad Bashir took up the three references for hearing filed by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against former prime minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and his family members.

The references were related to Avenfield Property London, Al-Azizia Steel Mills and Flagship Investment.

Former prime minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Captain (Retd) Muhammad Safdar appeared before accountability court along with their legal team amid foolproof security arrangements in place around the judicial complex.

As the hearing began, witness Mohammad Tasleem, an Inland Revenue Commissioner at Federal Board of Revenue, recorded his statement after which Nawaz's counsel Khawaja Harris conducted the cross-examination of the witness. The witness presented the income tax and wealth tax record of Nawaz Sharif before the court.

Later on, the second prosecution witnesses including NAB Assistant Director Zawar Manzoor and Yasir Shabbir, an official of private bank, recorded their statements before court and cross examined by Khwaja Harris and Amjad Pervez, the counsel for Maryam Nawaz and Safdar.

Witness Zawar Manzoor verified the documents related to the Chaudhry Sugar Mills received from the Security Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) while Yasir Shabbir provided the transaction details of bank account of former prime minister.

The court, subsequently, adjourned hearing of the case till January 9, and also summoned six more witness to record their statements.