Nawaz Sharif appears before accountability court in Al-Azizia reference

ISLAMABAD - Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was brought to the accountability court in Islamabad on Tuesday which has resumed hearing into the Al-Azizia reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

The former premier was brought to the court of Judge Arshad Malick amid tight surveillance, a day after his parole, granted by the Home department Punjab, expired; the parole was approved on the death of his wife Kulsoom Nawaz who died battling cancer in London last week.

During the hearing of the case on Tuesday, Nawaz's counsel quizzed star witness and head of Panama Joint Investigation Team (JIT) about classified volume X of the report formulated by the six-man team.

When asked whether the volume was sealed in the presence of supreme court's registrar, Wajiz Zia responded that he was not aware of that as a year had lapsed.

During the hearing at accountability court 2, Haris further asked the witness if Volume 10 was sealed in front of him, to which Zia replied in the affirmative.

On the occasion, NAB prosecutor Wasiq Malik said Volume 10 was present in the Supreme Court in a sealed package, requesting that Nawaz’s counsel should not be allowed to question Zia regarding the records.

Malik added the question on Volume 10 being present in a sealed package cannot be argued over during the cross-examination.

A separate petition should be filed in this regard, he added.