ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam and son-in-law MNA Capt (retd) Safdar were indicted in the Avenfield properties case on Thursday.
The accountability court hearing corruption cases against the Sharif family indicted the three accused after dismissing their separate pleas to suspend proceedings and halt their indictment.
Nawaz, through his representative Zafir Khan, Maryam and Safdar rejected the charges by pleading ‘not guilty’ and vowed to contest the case.
The charges state that the 2006 trust deed of the London properties is fake as it used the Calibri font before it was made publicly available and the accused also submitted bogus documents in the Supreme Court.
The hearing of the Avenfield properties case was then adjourned until October 26 when the prosecution will produce its witnesses.
Furthermore, Nawaz is expected to be indicted in the two other references against him when the hearing resumes at 2pm.
Earlier, during the hearing of references filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in light of the Supreme Court’s July 28 verdict in the Panama Papers case, Nawaz’s counsel, Ayesha Hamid, pleaded the court to suspend proceedings until the Supreme Court decides on her client’s plea regarding the re-filing of references.
Similarly, Maryam and MNA Capt (retd) Safdar’s counsel, Amjad Pervez, argued before Accountability Judge Mohammad Bashir that his clients were not provided with the complete documents of the case and thus the indictment process should be halted.
However, the judge dismissed both pleas after which Nawaz filed another plea requesting the court to combine the three references but that too was dismissed. (agencies)
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