ISLAMABAD, Jan 13: The hearing in PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari's appeal against the judgment of National Accountability Bureau court in Steel Mills case was adjourned by the Rawalpindi Bench of Lahore High Court here on Tuesday.

The accountability bench comprising Justice Moulvi Anwarul Haq and Justice Sardar Mohammad Aslam heard Dr Babar Awan, the counsel of Mr Zardari. The hearing was adjourned till Wednesday.

Mr Zardari's counsel argued that the charges of corruption against his client were utterly wrong as the contract to Mercury Corporation was awarded in 1992 when Nawaz Sharif was prime minister.

The counsel argued that the corporation took Rs170 million from the national exchequer and the company chairman remained an absconder for eight years and only appeared when his brother Javed Sultan gave evidence against Mr Zardari.

After that NAB struck a deal with chief of the corporation for only Rs40 million. On Tuesday, a large number of PPP leaders including ARD chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim, PPP vice-chairman Yousaf Raza Gillani, Jehangir Badr, Senator Raza Rabbani, and Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Raja Pervez Ashraf, Qasim Zia, Mohammad Akram Khan Hoti, and Senator Farhatullah Babar.

Meanwhile, an accountability court has allowed the children of Asif Zardari to stay with him for one week starting from Wednesday, adds APP. The judge of AC No. 3 Mohammad Aslam allowed Zardari's children here on Tuesday to stay with him at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Science (Pims) which has been declared a sub-jail for the accused. The permission has been granted while accepting Zardari's application in this regard.