The Accountability Court-II on Thursday resumed the hearing of Al-Azizia corruption reference against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.
As the hearing went underway, Khawaja Haris, counsel for Nawaz, continued cross-examining the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) witness Wajid Zia.
Zia told the court that the report under question was made on the basis of the financial statements that were not audited by Aldar Audit Bureau. “The JIT did not contact any officer of the Aldar Audit Bureau to obtain financial statements,” he said.
“The Aldar audit report for Nawaz Sharif’s son Hussain is from 2010-2014. Contact details of the person who has prepared the report are present in the document,” Zia told the court.
Haris then questioned Zia about the date when Hill Metal Establishment became operational. In response, the latter said he could only answer the question after looking at the record.
After a short break, the defence lawyer, Haris, cross-questioned the prosecution witness regarding the Hill Metal Establishment. During the proceedings, NAB Prosecutor Wasiq Malik and Haris got into a heated debate.
After the defence lawyer stopped Malik from interrupting, the NAB prosecutor said that he and his witness were talking to each other and not Haris. Judge Malik then remarked that the prosecutor and his witness should step back when speaking to one another. Nawaz was earlier exempted from appearing before the court for the hearing.
Published in Daily Times, September 7th 2018.
