ATTOCK, Feb 15: Former federal minister Asif Ali Zardari was produced before an accountability court at the Attock Fort comprising judge Farrukh Latif on Friday in the illegal assets reference.

Two witnesses for prosecution Syed Shahid Hasan, an Excise and Taxation officer from Karachi and Maqsood Chohan, an assistant officer from Suckrand Sugar Mills, Karachi, recorded their statements. The witnesses were cross-examined by the defence council before the court adjourned the hearing till Monday.

The prosecution was represented by National Accountability Bureau’s special prosecutors Iqbal Bhatti and Tanveerul Islam and the defence by Arshad Tabraiz and Farooq A Naik.

After the hearing, Mr Zardari was returned to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Islamabad, amid tight security.

Earlier, talking to journalists outside the court, Mr Zardari said his wife, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, was not in the USA during President Gen Pervez Musharraf’s visit to that country. He said she had left the country before the general’s arrival.

Mr Zardari criticized the government for inducting retired generals in top jobs.

Former Sindh ministers Syed Qamar Shah and Rahim Dad, former MNA Mehrun Nisa advocate and PPP workers Qazi Sultan Mahmood and Ismail Dari were also present on the occasion.

ARRESTED: The Attock police on Friday claimed to have arrested 19 pushers with 2.5kg hashish and two pistols.