The witnesses testifying against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his family members before an accountability court in Islamabad completed recording their statements on Monday.

The former premier's son-in-law, retired Capt Safdar, appeared before the court today as a hearing into the Avenfield Flats reference ─ one of the three filed against members of the Sharif family by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) ─ resumed.

Sharif and his daughter, Maryam Nawaz, were not present in the court today as the two had left for London on Dec 5 after they were exempted from appearing before the court.

During the hearing, Sharif's lawyer cross-examined Malik Tayyab, a witness presented by the prosecution who in a previous hearing had provided details of cheques issued to Maryam and others from the former premier's bank account.

Advocate Khawaja Harris asked the witness if he personally knew those to whom Sharif had allegedly issued cheques to. Tayyab responded that he did not, adding that he had presented his statement based on the records that were available with him.

The lawyer requested that a copy of prosecution witness Afaq Ahmad's testimony recorded before the Supreme Court-mandated Panama Papers joint investigation team be provided to him. In a written response to the request, NAB said that the statement has been recorded before the apex court and time will be needed to acquire it.

The statement of NAB's Assistant Director Adeel Akhtar, another prosecution witness, was also recorded today.

The court summoned two more NAB witnesses as the hearing was adjourned until Dec 19.

NAB references

A five-member bench of the Supreme Court on July 28 had directed NAB to file references against Sharif and his children in six weeks in the accountability court and directed the trial court to decide the references within six months.

The Supreme Court also assigned Justice Ijazul Ahsan a supervisory role to monitor the progress of the accountability court proceedings.

NAB had filed three references on Sept 8 against Sharif and his family, and another reference against Finance Minister Ishaq Dar. The three references against the Sharif family are related to the Flagship Investment Ltd, the Avenfield (London) properties and Jeddah-based Al-Azizia Company and Hill Metal Establishment.

The former premier and his sons, Hassan and Hussain, have been named in all three NAB references, while Maryam and husband Safdar have been named only in the Avenfield reference.