ISLAMABAD: An Accountability Court, on Thursday, reserved its verdict on the National Accountability Bureau (NAB)’s request to transfer the Toshakhana corruption case involving Asif Ali Zardari, ex-prime ministers Nawaz Sharif and Yousaf Raza Gillani, and others to a special judge central.
The Accountability Court judge, Abida Sajjad, while hearing the case, reserved verdict on the NAB's reply regarding the jurisdiction of the Toshakhana reference.
The bureau in its report called for the case to be moved to a special judge central.
It is pertinent to mention here that the court during the previous hearing sought a report from NAB regarding the jurisdiction of the case.
During the hearing, the judge remarked that NAB had filed its reply.
To this, Zardari’s counsel Farooq H Naek complained that his team had not yet received a copy of the NAB report.
Sajjad remarked that she had already issued instructions to ensure the report was shared with the defense.
The Court staff later handed the document to Naek. The defence counsel requested the court to transfer the case to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for further investigation. The NAB deputy director general objected to Naek's request to send the case to FIA.
So far charge has not been framed in this case, the defence counsel said. Naek said that this case had been filed under Section 9 of the NAB Ordinance and a statement is also present on the record.
In this case, another inquiry will be conducted and FIA will conduct it, he said. The judge said that a case against PTI founding chairman Imran Khan was transferred to a special court as challan was presented before the court.
The court, after hearing the arguments, reserved its verdict to send the case to FIA or special judge central. The court fixed November 9 for the announcement of judgment.
The NAB had filed the Toshakhana reference against Zardari, Sharif, Gilani, and others for allegedly acquiring three vehicles including BMW 750 Li model 2004, Toyota Lexus Jeep 472 model 2007 gifted by the Embassy of 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.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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