Avenfield, Flagship references: AC accepts NAB plea to place additional evidence

ISLAMABAD: An accountability court judge Muhammad Bashir Friday accepted the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) application to place additional documentary evidence in Avenfield apartments and Flagship corruption references against the Sharif family.

The NAB prosecutor told AC that they have received response of their mutual legal assistance (MLA) application from the UK authorities that is pertaining to the ownership of Avenfield properties and Flagship investment companies. The prosecutor said that these are the documents that the accused concealed.

On the contrary, Maryam and Nawaz’s counsel Amjad Pervez said that some to the documents are already attached and exhibited and others are neither notarised nor certified and just photocopies. “The NAB received these documents on March 20 and for almost a month they withheld these documents which are mockery of justice,” Amjad Pervez said.

As per the NAB prosecution, the NAB Director General Operations International Cooperation Wing (ICW) Zahir Shah received these documents and he would record his testimony in this matter also. The court directed Zahir Shah to record his statement on Monday, April 23, when the JIT chief Wajid Zia also will record his statement in Al Azizia corruption reference.

Meanwhile, the AC dismissed applications of Mian Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz seeking exemption of seven days from personal appearance before the court due to the ailment of Begum Kulsoom Nawaz. Both had been seeking exemption starting from April 20. The AC dismissed their applications for seven days exemptions but accepted their exemption applications for Friday and said that the accused could also file applications on next date of hearing if they may not be able to appear before the court. However, Captain Safdar appeared before the court.

During Friday’s proceedings, the NAB Deputy Prosecutor General (DPG) Sardar Muzaffar Abbasi presented arguments in the prosecution’s application filed under Section 540 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) to place additional evidence and record before the court.

The DPG said the Ministry of Law and Justice had issued a notification conferring powers of Section 21 of the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO-1999) to the JIT regarding mutual legal assistance from foreign jurisdiction. On May 21, 2017, the JIT had written MLAs to the UK authorities, and reply has been received.