Avenfield trial: Court to resume hearing against Nawaz, family today

Pakistan's accountability court will resume hearing the London-based Avenfield reference trial against former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his family on Wednesday.

Nawaz, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Capt (retired) Safdar are likely to appear before the accountability court Judge Muhammad Bashir, Geo TV reported.

The accountability court on Tuesday had the miscellaneous petition, submitted by Nawaz Sharif, requesting for final arguments in all the three references against the Sharif family to be heard together.

However, Judge Muhammad Bashir dismissed the petition, saying in Tuesday's order, "Accused has not produced any defence witness in this reference. He has also not opted to be examined on oath under section 340 (2) Cr PC. Therefore, the reason for rendering the decision simultaneously in all the three references is not existing at present."
"You may challenge this verdict in the high court," he added.

The Avenfield reference, pertaining to the Sharif family's London properties, is among three filed references against the Sharif family.

Sharif, his sons Hasan and Hussain, daughter Maryam, son-in-law Capt (retired) Mohammad Safdar and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar are facing multiple corruption references in the accountability court.

The Pakistan Supreme Court had, July 28 last year, disqualified Sharif from holding the office of the prime minister and asked the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to file references against the Sharif family in connection with corruption cases against them.
On the orders of the country's Supreme Court, a JIT was formed last year to probe the allegations on the Sharif family.

(ANI)