ISLAMABAD: Ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday submitted additional documents in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) to his pending plea seeking merger of all three graft references, filed against him by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), into one.
The documents were submitted in compliance with the IHC’s earlier orders seeking complete record of all the three graft references against Nawaz Sharif. The court is scheduled to hear the petition today (Thursday).
The documents included copy of charge sheet against Nawaz Sharif, his indictment orders by the accountability court in three separate references pertaining to Avenfield properties, Al-Azizia Steel Mills and Flagship Investments Ltd.
The petition seeking merger of all three graft references into one was filed by Zaafir Khan, pleader of Nawaz Sharif, through advocate Ayesha Hamid on behalf of Nawaz Sharif, arguing that separate indictments in three graft references was against the law, thus the references should be merged into one and then heard by the accountability court.
The petitioner had requested the court to order the accountability court to stop the indictment proceedings against him. Meanwhile, the accountability court indicted Nawaz Sharif in all the three graft references separately.
The petitioner pleaded the court to declare the accountability court’s decision illegal and order the trial court to club three references against him into one.
It stated that there should be one trial on one charge instead of separate cases. The petitioner had asked the court to halt the accountability court proceedings of the three references until a single reference was filed.
The Supreme Court in its July 28, 2017, verdict in Panama Papers case had disqualified Nawaz Sharif as prime minister and directed NAB to file references against him, his children and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar in six weeks in the accountability court and the trial court to decide these references within six months.
Published in Daily Times, November 2nd 2017.
