The Supreme Court Friday granted another five weeks to the Accountability Court to conclude trial in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills and the Flagship Investment corruption references against former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his sons. The Accountability Court was directed to complete the references by November 17. The National Accountability Court (NAB) was asked to file weekly reports regarding the proceedings of cases.
While granting extension, the Chief Justice said after this deadline they will not give more time, adding now only the statement of the accused under the Section 342 of Code of Criminal Procedure 1898 is to be recorded. A three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, was hearing the NAB application for extension in time to conclude trial in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills and the Flagship Investment corruption references.
The Supreme Court on July 10 had granted six weeks to the Accountability Court to conclude the trial. As the trial in the Flagship Investment and Al-Azizia Steel Mills are pending; therefore, the NAB sought more time. There are 26 witnesses in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills and 18 in the Flagship Investment references. The fourth reference is against former Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, who has been declared a proclaimed offender.
This is the sixth time that the NAB has approached the Supreme Court for extension to dispose of graft references against Nawaz Sharif. The Supreme Court in its July 28, 2017 verdict in the Panama Papers case had disqualified Nawaz Sharif and directed the NAB to file three references against him, his daughter Maryam, son-in-law Captain Muhammad Safdar (retd) and sons - Hussain and Hassan.
The Accountability Court was initially given six months to conclude the references, while an extension of two months was given in March and of one month in May.
The apex court on May 9, 2018 had extended the deadline for the accountability court to conclude trial in three corruption references against Nawaz Sharif and his family members until June 9. However, when it did not happen then the Supreme Court on June 10 directed the accountability court to wrap up the trial against Nawaz Sharif and his family members in the corruption references filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) within a month.
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