ISLAMABAD : The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Thursday expressed reservations over hearings on former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Capt (retd) Safdar\u2019s petitions challenging the Avenfield reference verdict against them in Islamabad High Court.<\/p>\n
A two-judge bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) comprising Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb heard the petitions.<\/p>\n
NAB prosecutor Akram Qureshi began presenting his arguments today.<\/p>\n
As the hearing went underway, the NAB prosecutor said, \u201cIf daily hearings can be conducted on petitions against the verdict then there can also be daily hearings on the appeals. Defence lawyers should argue over the appeals for two hours daily.\u201dJustice Miangul then told Qureshi, \u201cWe have heard your reservations move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
The NAB prosecutor then said, \u201cIf a sentence is more than three years then the punishment cannot be immediately suspended.\u201d<\/p>\n
Justice Minallah then questioned, \u201cHas there been a daily trial in any other case? This case is different.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, the NAB prosecutor argued, \u201cThis case is not different.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe defence lawyers owing to their malafide intentions decided to present arguments over pleas challenging the verdict,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Justice Minallah then turned to the NAB prosecutor and remarked, \u201cPresent arguments on the suspension of the sentence first.\u201dJustice Miangul added, \u201cWe have noted your reservations.\u201d<\/p>\n
Following this, the NAB prosecutor said, \u201cMy mother suffered a cardiac arrest a day earlier and if you permit I will leave the rostrum.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, the bench asked him to continue presenting his arguments.<\/p>\n
The NAB prosecutor then once again objected and said that the accountability bureau was not made party in the petitions which is why they are not maintainable.<\/p>\n
On July 16, the Sharifs and Captain Safdar had filed appeals for the Avenfield verdict to be overturned. Their lawyers had also filed petitions that argued that until the IHC adjudicates on the appeals against the accountability court\u2019s decision, the convicts should be released on bail. In the appeals, counsel Khawaja Haris had argued that the prosecution must establish its case beyond a shadow of a doubt in order to shift the onus of proof on the accused, but in the Avenfield properties reference the prosecution failed to establish such a case.<\/p>\n
The convicts had appealed to the court for setting aside their sentence, suspending their sentence and granting them bail, and transferring Al-Azizia and Flagship references against them to a different trial court.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ISLAMABAD : The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Thursday expressed reservations over hearings on former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Capt (retd) Safdar\u2019s petitions challenging the Avenfield reference verdict against them in Islamabad High Court. A two-judge bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) comprising Justice Athar Minallah and Justice […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22973,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-national","category-top-news"],"yoast_head":"\n