
Islamabad: An accountability court in
Pakistan today rejected ousted premier Nawaz Sharif's
objections to the supplementary case filed against him and his
family by the country's anti-graft body over properties in
London.
The court holding trial in graft cases against Sharif and
his family decided that the supplementary case would be made
part of the record in the Avenfield flats case.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on January 22
filed a supplementary case with the accountability court's
registrar in Islamabad which is already trying Sharif and his
family -- two sons Hussain and Hassan, daughter Maryam, and
son-in-law Safdar -- for alleged corruption in three cases.
The cases are related to the Panama Papers scandal that
had forced the 68-year-old three-time prime minister to
resign.
Accompanied by daughter Maryam and son-in-law Mohammad
Safdar, Sharif for the 15th time appeared in the court located
in Islamabad.
During the hearing today, conducted by Judge Muhammad
Bashir, Nawaz Sharif s lawyer Khawaja Haris had raised an
objection over the supplementary reference, saying there is
nothing new in it.
"The reference has been filed in line with the JIT report
and no Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) report has so far been
filed, said Haris.
According to him, the NAB had said that a supplementary
reference would be filed when new evidence is found against
the suspects but that is not the case. The supplementary
reference had to be filed in reply to a legal consultation.
Haris stressed that the supplementary reference was not
as per the order of the top court and thus could not be
accepted.
"The supplementary reference was filed to target Sharif
and even in that reference, the same allegations already
levelled in the interim reference were repeated," he said.
The three cases against the Sharif family pertain to the
Al-Azizia Steel Mills, several companies including Flagship
Investment Ltd, and London's Avenfield properties.
Sharif and his sons have been named in all three NAB
cases, while Maryam and Safdar have been named only in the
Avenfield case.
The political future of Sharif, who heads the country's
most powerful political family and the ruling PML-N party, has
been hanging in the balance since his ouster. If convicted, he
could be jailed.
Sharif's family alleges that the cases are politically
motivated.
PTI