ISLAMABAD, May 11: In a statement issued on Thursday, a spokesman for former federal minister Anwar Saifullah Khan has clarified misleading statements made by the NAB prosecutor before the Supreme Court of Pakistan as reported in the national press.

The statement says it is wrong to state that Mr Anwar Saifullah Khan or his lawyer did not appear before the Supreme Court in a case pending before it for the past six years. The fact is that no notice was received by Mr Khan or his lawyer of the date of hearing before the Supreme Court. Mr Khan was not even aware that any such appeal had been filed, because the notice of institution had not been received by either Mr Khan or his lawyer, the statement said.

Moreover, Mr Khan had been acquitted by the Lahore High Court in the above case, which had set aside the judgment of the accountability court.

It is also incorrect to say that the former minister ‘never’ appeared before the Supreme Court. No notice of the appeal or summons to appear before the Supreme Court had ever been received by Mr Khan or his lawyer in the past “six years” in this case, as claimed by the prosecutor. “It is inconceivable that he would fail to appear before the Supreme Court when summoned,” the statement added.