Accountability court to club hearing of Nawaz corruption references

Counsel to continue cross-examination of Wajid Zia

An accountability court hearing the remaining corruption references filed against deposed premier Nawaz Sharif and sons Hassan and Hussain decided to conclude the remaining two references simultaneously.

The judgment came after Nawaz's counsel Khawaja Haris appealed to Judge Arshad Malik to hear the Al-Azizia and Flagship Investment references filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) together. Nawaz also appeared in court with Haris and the prosecution's counsel was also present.



Haris lamented that although the earlier contention was to club the two references, Judge Mohammad Bashir had changed his mind. As both defence and prosecution counsel had prior commitments the Islamabad High Court (IHC), the cross-examination of Wajid Zia was not conducted during today's hearing. The court will resume cross-examination on August 27.

"We were also previously disillusioned and we thought the references would be heard together," said Haris.



Talking informally to journalists present in the courtroom, Nawaz said that all the prime minister's employees were paid for by him. When asked about Prime Minister Imran Khan's speech last night, he said that all of his payments are on record and each cheque that he wrote to his employees can be found in the records.

Earlier, Sharif was presented on August 16 before the accountability court for the first time since July 13 when he was sent to Adiala Jail.