Deputy Prosecutor National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Sardar Muzaffar Abbasi on Monday contended before a division bench of Islamabad High Court that once an accused is indicted, a reference cannot be transferred to another judge. The two-member bench comprising Justice Aamir Farooq and Justice Mian Gul Hasan Aurangzeb resumed the hearing of ex-premier Nawaz Sharif's plea to transfer the remaining two corruption references against him to another court.
Presenting his arguments, the NAB prosecutor said that Accountability Court Judge Muhammad Bashir heard the defense's arguments in the Al-Azizia and Flagship references for 10 months. He said that a good lawyer can change the mind of a judge through solid arguments and evidences, adding the defense had not filed a petition in the Supreme Court against rejection of the plea to club all three references.
The NAB prosecutor further said once the accused is indicted then the reference cannot be transferred to another court. Justice Aurangzeb observed that the evidence was interlinked in all three corruption references. "How can these interrelated facts be separated? This case is not of ordinary nature. It cannot be compared to the cases we hear on a daily basis," he remarked.
The NAB prosecutor, however, said that a judge cannot be removed from a case just because he has decided on a previous case. "If this precedent is set, hearing cases of similar nature will become difficult. A new judge will have to be appointed for every other case," he added.
Legal counsel for Nawaz Sharif had filed an appeal, requesting the court to transfer the Al-Azizia and Flagship Investment references from the court of Accountability Judge-I Muhammad Bashir to another accountability court.
Khawaja Harris, the lawyer for Sharif, maintained before the court that Judge Muhammad Bashir has already exposed his mind by giving judgment in one of the references; therefore, the remaining two references should be transferred to another court. The Sharif family had also petitioned against their convictions in the Avenfield reference.
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