ISLAMABAD: The Accountability Court, on Wednesday, adjourned hearing of objection petitions of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz and others against seizing and auction of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s properties in the Toshakhana reference.
Accountability Court-III judge Syed Asghar Ali, while hearing the case, adjourned hearing till June 30 following request of Maryam’s Counsel Qazi Misbah.
The NAB had filed Toshakhana case against Zardari, two former premiers, Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani and Nawaz Sharif, and others, for allegedly acquiring three vehicles including BMW 750 Li model 2004, Toyota Lexus Jeep 472 model 2007 gifted by the embassy of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and BMW 760 LI model 2008 gifted by Embassy of Libya and gifts from Toshakhana - an official treasury where gifts from foreign dignitaries or heads of state are deposited - in violation of rules and regulations.
At the start of the hearing, the defence counsel told the court that it has already rejected three objection petitions moved by Ashraf Malik, Aslam Aziz, and Mian Iqbal Barkat through their counsel seeking to halt auction of Sharif’s seized properties.
The counsel told the court that he has challenged its decision regarding dismissal of three petitions in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) and he pleaded the court to adjourn hearing till the IHC decision. The IHC will fix his petition for hearing in a day or two.
He also told the court that it has also disclosed its mind, while announcing its decision regarding three similar kinds of objection petitions. Our arguments will be the same that we had presented before during the hearing of the three petitions, he further said.
The court approved the defence counsel’s request and adjourned hearing of the case till June 30th.
Maryam Nawaz filed the objection petition before the Accountability Court on December 10th, 2020 against the attachment of House No 24-A&B, III, Hall Road, Murree, and a house in Changla Galli, Abbottabad, in the Toshakhana case.
She stated in the petition that both houses were owned by her late mother, Kalsoom Nawaz. The two houses had been purchased much before the period mentioned in the reference, and after the death of the owner of the houses in question, the ownership devolved upon legal heirs as per judgment and decree dated May 14, 2019, and the houses are undivided properties in the joint ownership of all legal heirs.
She requested the court that order dated October 1, 2020, was liable to be corrected under Section 88 (6A) Criminal Procedure Code, and the above mentioned properties may be released from the attachment.
The Accountability Court had declared Nawaz Sharif a proclaimed offender in the Toshakhana vehicles reference in September last year.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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