Sharif distances himself from Al-Azizia Mills

Former premier has so far responded to 120 court questions

ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif distanced himself from any transaction related to Al-Azizia Steel Mills, as he continued recording his statement in the accountability court in Islamabad for third consecutive day on Friday.

Accountability Court Judge Arshad Malik was hearing the Al-Azizia Steel Mills reference against the former prime minister filed by National Accountability Bureau (NAB). The court has given Sharif two questionnaires, comprising 151 queries. So far the former premier has responded to 120 questions.

In his replies to the court queries, Sharif denied owning Al-Azizia Steel Mills. He said that he never claimed the ownership of the mill at any forum and that he had never been any part of the sale process or of any transaction of the mill.



The former premier said that it was not correct to say that Al-Azizia Mills was established by his son, Hussain Nawaz. Hussain, he went on to say, was running the mill’s affairs but it was established by his father, Mian Muhammad Sharif.

Sharif said that the statements of both his sons, Hussain and Hasan, could not be presented in the court as evidence against him because the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) did not record their statements in his (Nawaz Sharif’s) presence and that they are not being tried by the trial court along with him.

Their interviews cannot be presented as evidence, he said, adding that the co-accused did not give the statement of establishing Al-Azizia Mills with $6 million in his presence and that Hussain Nawaz was not present in the court.

Interestingly, the accused disassociated himself from the Qatari Prince's letters during a hearing the other day. On Friday he said that he himself had not presented these letters at any forum or relied upon them. It seemed that the JIT did not want to record the statement of Sheikh Hammad Bin Jassim, Sharif told the court.

He said that Sheikh Hammad had offered the JIT to visit Doha to get these letters verified by him. The prince’s letters never gave any impression that he was not ready for cooperation with the JIT, Sharif said. The JIT, he continued, had no reason to declare these letters as 'fiction', adding that he himself had not presented these letters at any forum or relied upon them.



The former prime minister admitted that he received money sent from abroad and accepted that he gifted its 77 per cent to his daughter. He said all the amounts he received from abroad were mentioned in his statements. He insisted that he was competent to spend this money as he wished.

On Friday, the former premier gave his responses to 30 questions posed by the accountability court in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills reference. So far, the former premier had recorded the replies to 120 out of 151 court questions. Further hearing of the reference will take place on Monday.