ISLAMABAD: The accountability court on Wednesday adjourned trial proceedings of the Al-Azizia reference till July 30, after the counsel for ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif informed Judge Mohammad Bashir that the Islamabad High Court had admitted petitions seeking transfer of the reference to another court.

An IHC division bench had on Tuesday issued a notice to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) regarding the petitions seeking transfer of the Al-Azizia and Flagship references from Judge Bashir’s court to another court, and set July 30 as the next date of hearing.

Mr Sharif’s counsel Khawaja Haris also informed the judge that the ex-premier had been denied access to his lawyer. He said the Adiala jail administration had not allowed him to meet Mr Sharif despite repeated attempts over the last couple of days.

IHC accepts pleas seeking transfer of Al-Azizia and Flagship references to other courts

He asked the judge if he deemed it appropriate for him to continue with the trial proceedings of the remaining two references since he had already passed a conclusive decision in the Avenfield properties reference based on evidence which included the Joint Investigation Team’s report.

Judge Bashir said that he had written a letter to the IHC and was waiting for its reply. He reminded Advocate Haris that the defence counsel had also filed a petition seeking transfer of the references.

Advocate Haris said that since the bench had decided to seek the assistance of NAB, it could not pass an order as no one from the prosecution was present inside the courtroom. He said he was surprised that while the prosecutors had attended the hearing of every petition they had filed in the IHC previously, this time around not a single prosecutor was seen in the courtroom.

He said that the IHC had been told that the defence lawyers would not join the proceedings till a decision on the petitions seeking transfer of the references.

Sardar Muzaffar Abbasi, the additional deputy prosecutor general for NAB, produced two notifications for jail trial of Mr Sharif in the Al-Azizia and Flagship references. He asserted that the IHC had not issued a restraining order for the accountability court.

At this, Judge Bashir said that it was not easy to conduct a jail trial as there were certain formalities which needed to be taken care of.

When the judge sought Advocate Haris’s opinion on the matter, he said that the government should have issued a notification with the consent of stakeholders.

Mr Abbasi argued that there were no issues with the holding of a jail trial since the environment of the jail was calm and peaceful.

Published in Dawn, July 19th, 2018