Nawaz's plea for joint trial rejected

ISLAMABAD: The accountability court on Wednesday rejected ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif's plea seeking to club together three corruption references filed against him by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in the light of Supreme Court verdict in Panama Papers case.

Judge Mumammad Bashir on Tuesday had reserved the decision on Nawaz Sharif's plea and announced it today.

His daughter Maryam Safdar and son in law Captain (retd) Safdar were also present in the court. 

The court which had earlier indicted him in his absence today indicted him again in the three corruption references. The judge read out the charges against the former prime minister who stood at rostrum in the court room and pleaded not guilty.

He told the court that he was deprived of fair trial and basic rights. According to Geo News, he was indicted in references related to London flats, Ali Azizia Steel Mills and Falfship Investment.

The former prime minister traveled from Murree to Islamabad's Punjab House from where party leaders accompanied him to the accountability court.

It was  the fifth time the PML-N leader appeared before the court. Earlier, he attended the hearing on September 26, October 2, November 3 and November 7.

His lawyer Khawaja Haris on Tuesday argued that in all the three references his client was accused of possessing assets beyond means and all of them were result of a same inquiry and investigation.

The lawyer contended that the three references be clubbed and heard as one case since they were of the same nature and have same defence and prosecution.

NAB prosecutor Muzaffar Abbasi, however, said characters of all the three accused and transactions were different and Section 17-D was not applicable to more than one suspects.

The judge remarked that High Court had ordered to decide the application under NAB Ordinance’s Section 17-D.