ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court issued notices to NAB in the Sharif family’s appeal against the Avenfield verdict.
A two-member bench, comprising Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb, sought the anti-corruption watchdog’s reply on the transfer of the two remaining cases against the Sharif family as well as the record of the Avenfield case. The record should be at least 100 pages, said Justice Kayani.
The court asked the Sharifs’ lawyer, Khawaja Haris, to point out the grounds on which they want the Al-Azizia and Flasghip cases to be transferred to another court.
Judge Muhammad Bashir cannot hear the other two cases as the defence arguments of the accused are the same in all three references, said Haris. According to him, judge Bashir cannot hear the other two cases after convicting the accused in the Avenfield reference.
“The accusations in the cases are that Nawaz Sharif owns the business,” said Haris. “The accused have presented a money trail in response. This judge has decided a case that included this money trail.”
Justice Kayani asked Haris if the judge was biased. To this, Haris replied: “Our case is not that the judge holds something against us.”
The court issued notices to NAB to submit its reply by July 30. It adjourned the hearing until then.
Besides the lawyer and PML-N leaders Pervaiz Rashid, Raja Zafarul Haq and Barrister Zafarullah Khan, a large number of people attended the hearing. There were more than 100 people in the courtroom before the hearing began. The courtroom has the capacity to seat 30 people.
