Nawaz Sharif submits fresh documents in Flagship reference

ISLAMABAD - An accountability court on Friday accepted new documents in the Flagship Investment reference filed against the former prime minister Nawaz Sharif by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

Accountability Court Judge Arshad Malik heard the Flagship Investment reference and accepted the request of Nawaz’ counsel, Khawaja Haris to submit additional documents.

During the hearing, the court also turned down the reservations of National Accountability Bureau against submission of fresh documents.

NAB prosecutor Sardar Mehfooz argued that the defence counsel had earlier stated that they had provided complete evidence, inquiring under which law these additional documents could be presented.

“The suspects were given full opportunities to submit documents in their defence. The documents which were presented are not mentioned in the financial statement and state that the companies were in loss. They have brought documents on company disposal now but our case is that how were these companies formed?” he added.

At this, Judge Malik remarked that during the last hearing he had observed that documents can be provided before the pronouncement of the verdict.

“The case is that Nawaz bought property in the name of his benamidaar. Now if this property was sold or not, what difference will it make to the case?” the judge observed.

After the approval of request, additional documents pertaining to Hasan Nawaz’ property were made part of the record.

“The documents are accepted to meet all obligations of justice,” Judge Malik remarked.

The accountability court had reserved the verdict in two pending graft references filed against Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday after dozens of hearings.

All eyes are on the accountability court as it will announce its verdict in Flagship Investment and Al-Azizia reference against the Sharif family on Monday, December 24.

The references were filed in line with the directives of the apex court in the Panama Papers case.

Cases

As many as three references have been filed against the former premier in line with the directives of the Supreme Court – a decision that ousted Nawaz Sharif from the PM House in July last year.

The accountability court judge Muhammad Bashir had sentenced the elder Sharif to ten years in the Avenfield reference. However, the conviction was suspended by a two-member bench of the Islamabad High Court.

Besides Sharif, Maryam Nawaz was sentenced to 7 years and Captain Safdar was sentenced to one year in prison in the Avenfield reference which pertains to the pricey flats of the former ruling family.