The accountability court hearing corruption references against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his family has summoned the former head of the Panama case joint investigation team (JIT), Wajid Zia, on February 22.
Islamabad, (Pakistan Point News - 19th Feb, 2018) The accountability court hearing corruption references against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his family has summoned the former head of the Panama case joint investigation team (JIT), Wajid Zia, on February 22. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB), which filed three corruption references against the Sharifs in September last year, had pleaded the court to summon Zia, an additional director in the Federal Investigation Agency.
The references pertain to the Al-Azizia Steel Mills, Flagship Investment Ltd and Avenfield properties in London. Nawaz is accused in all three cases whereas his daughter Maryam and son-in-law MNA Capt (retd) Safdar are accused in the Avenfield reference only. At the next hearing on Feb 22, two UK-based witnesses will record their statements in the supplementary Avenfield reference, filed last month, via video-link from London. The NAB prosecutor had pleaded before the court that the original JIT record needs to be submitted when the new witnesses will record their statements.
Giving its order on NAB's request today, Accountability Court-I Judge Mohammad Bashir issued a notice to Zia directing him to appear on Thursday along with the original JIT report. Moreover, the court ordered the authorities to ensure the attendance of all three suspects at the next hearing. Zia has already appeared before the same court in the corruption trial against Nawaz's close aide and former finance minister Senator Ishaq Dar. The original JIT report has been submitted in that case as well. At the last hearing of the case on Feb 15, the court had rejected the accused's request to be exempted from appearance from February 19 to March 5 as the family has to travel to London to visit Nawaz's ailing wife, Kulsoom.
