Nawaz requests court for joint recording of JIT head statements

Zia should file his statements pertaining to all references, says defence

Ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Monday filed an appeal in the accountability court for jointly recording the statements of JIT head in the three references against the Sharif family.

The appeal was filed during the resumption of the Avenfield reference hearing against the Sharif family by the country's top anti-graft body.



"All three references point to a single accusation pertaining to assets in excess of income," the application read, "we have been demanding a single reference for all three cases since the beginning."

Nawaz's counsel, Khawaja Harris, maintained that all three references bore similar accusations towards the Sharif family. Hence, Zia should file his statements pertaining to the other two references; Al-Azizia and Flagship references.

"Our defence will be clear if his statements are recorded for the said cases," said Harris, to which National Accountability Bureau's (NAB) prosecutor Sardar Muzzafar stated that NAB wants to complete the trial for the London apartments first. "The defence wants to bulldoze the whole proceedings of the case," he remarked, "if the defence wants any statement, it can be given by investigation officer Imran Dogar."

Haris also objected to the offer as it could potentially damage the defence. "The court advised the parties to record joint statements of the witnesses. Instead of recording statement from Wajid Zia, NAB opted to present a statement of its investigation officer for the Avenfield reference,” he said.



After hearing arguments from both sides, Judge Bashir allowed NAB to record statements of Imran Dogar for the Avenfield reference. “The order for the application filed by the defence will be announced later’ the court said.