ISLAMABAD: An accountability court in Islamabad issued summons to the witnesses in three of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) references filed against former president Asif Ali Zardari, DawnNews reported.

Judge Muhammad Bashir of Islamabad’s accountability court held the hearing of the NAB references case against the PPP chairman and former president.

During the court’s hearing, Zardari’s attorney and former law minister Farooq H. Naek informed the court that his client faced security threats due to which he could not appear before the court.

“The former president would appear in the court for the next hearing after getting a security clearance,” added Naek.

The court accepted Zardari’s immunity application for today’s hearing of the trial.

Naek furthermore said that the former president had been indicted in all the other cases apart from the polo ground reference case in which he had not been charged.

NAB officials gave copies of the Cotecna reference to Naek.

The court summoned the witnesses in Societe Generale Surveillance (SGS), Cotecna, Ursus tractor and assets cases.

Moreover, the court ordered the former president to appear at its next hearing scheduled for Dec 23 and subsequently adjourned the hearing to the said date.

In October 2013, after appointment of a new chief of NAB, it reopened five cases on allegations of corruption against Zardari at the time when his constitutional immunity as a president lasted.