ISLAMABAD: Accountability Court (AC) rejected former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s plea to record the statement of Wajid Zia, the head of Joint Investigation Team (JIT) constituted in Panama papers case, at once in all three references, including Flagship Investment, Al-Azizia Steel Mills and Avenfield property.
AC judge Mohammed Bashir after hearing the arguments placed by defense counsel of the litigants reserved judgment which was announced later on the same day in the evening.
Khawaja Harris, leading counsel for Sharif family took the stance that the witness was a clever person, if his testimony was recorded separately then our defence might be weakened.
Prosecutor of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Sardar Muzaffar objected and said that defense counsel was using delaying tactics by unnecessary litigation.
However the bench rejected Nawaz’s plea and issued summons for Wajid Zia to appear on March 8, to record his statement in Avenfield property reference.
The court also summoned seven more witnesses in Al-Azizia Steel Mills reference on March 7.
Meanwhile, Khawaja Harris, cross- examined the witness Abdul Hanan and Sunil Ijaz in Azizia Steel Mills supplementary reference.
Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son in-law Captain (retd) Mohammed Safdar were in attendance before the court during hearing.
