Court reserves ruling over final arguments in Al-Azizia reference

IO in Flagship references informs court about correspondence with UK land registry department

ISLAMABAD: The accountability court in Islamabad on Tuesday reserved its ruling on a matter regarding final arguments by the two sides in Al-Azizia Steel Mills corruption reference against members of the Sharif family.

Accountability Judge Arshad Malik conducted the hearing of the reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif appeared before the court along with his legal team.

During the proceedings, NAB's deputy prosecutor general requested the court to issue directive to the defence side to initiate the final arguments because the accused had submitted some fresh documents in his defence.

However, Nawaz's counsel Khawaja Haris responded that the documents were not submitted for the defence purpose, adding that he wouldn't give arguments on these documents. Nawaz Sharif had already excused himself from presenting anything in his defence, he added.



He said if the accused presented his defence it must request the court to make it part of the case record. After hearing the arguments from both sides, Judge Arshad Malik reserved the judgment on the matter.

Meanwhile, defence lawyer Khawaja Haris continued the cross-examination of the NAB Investigation Officer, Muhammad Kamran in the Flagship investment reference. He told the court that the UK Land Registry Department did not have the latest documents of the property of Sharif's son Hasan Nawaz.

The department had informed them that if they mention the date of October 31, 2007 in their request, it could provide the historical documents of Hasan Nawaz's properties. The defence lawyer will continue the cross-examination of the investigation officer on the next date of hearing.