Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's counsel and National Accountability Bureau (NAB) prosecutor traded barbs when the defense counsel asked prosecution witness that the latter lied to the court a day ago.
Defense counsel Khawaja Haris and NAB Prosecutor Mohammad Akram Qureshi exchanged harsh words during the cross-examination of prosecution witness Mehboob Alam before Accountability Court Judge Muhammad Arshad Malik during hearing of the Al-Azizia Steel Mills Company Limited (ASCL) and Hill Metals Establishment (HME) reference.
Haris asked the prosecution witness, "You lied to the court during Wednesday hearing regarding the letters written to Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and National Accountability Bureau (NAB) headquarters."
On this Qureshi became angry and told Haris, "Your client tells lies and he is a liar. He [Nawaz Sharif] has looted national wealth and shows before the court that he is innocent."
Haris told Qureshi, "Did you come here to do politics. You are announcing the judgment before the court's decision that we are liars and thieves. We can file an application against you."
Qureshi replied that he will file an application against him as his associate Ayesha Hamid Wednesday asked him (Qureshi) to get out of the court. "The father of Ayesha Hamid was my class fellow and therefore I addressed her as a girl," he added.
On this the judge observed that Ayesha Hamid was a bit annoyed on Wednesday. "It would be better if both prosecution and defense talk to me instead of talking with each other," he further observed.
Mehboob Alam while testifying before the court said that it is totally wrong that he lied to the court on Wednesday. "I could not produce any letter before the court which did not bear his signature," he said, adding that he prepared draft of letter and then got it signed from the relevant authority, he added The witness said that NAB works according to a standard operating procedure (SOP) and the internal communication as well as record of different notices is the privilege of the institution and he could not produce it here.
Qureshi told the court if the defense requires some record, he could file an application before this court. "It is not possible to produce whatever they demand," he said.
The witness said that the copy of decision of NAB Executive Board Meeting (EBM), dated July 31, 2017, regarding filing of reference was not appended with the reference. He said that it is correct that as per the documents collected from both the Supreme Court and NAB, the EBM has directed to file reference relating to ASCL and HME within the specified time. "Both the directions were binding upon me and I had no option but to file reference within six weeks," the witness said while responding to a question asked by the defense counsel.
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