Will review trial record to see whether NAB proved its case or not: IHC

| Court observes trust deed of Maryam doesn’t fall in ambit of forgery

ISLAMABAD  -  The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Thursday conducted hearing of Maryam Nawaz’s appeal against her conviction in the Avenfield and asked some hard questions from the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

A division bench of the IHC comprising Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani conducted hearing of the appeals filed by Maryam Nawaz and Capt (retired) Muhammad Safdar against their conviction in the corruption reference.

During the hearing, PML-N’s Vice President Maryam Nawaz and Capt (r) Muhammad Safdar appeared before the court along with their legal team.

Irfan Qadir Advocate, the counsel for Maryam Nawaz, adopted the stance that NAB did not fulfil the basic requirements of the case and the actual value and source of the assets are not stated in advance. He added that the reference also did not meet the requirements of Section 9-A of the NAB Ordinance.

Then, the NAB prosecutor read out the letter of the British Virgin Island Authority before the court. The judge asked from the prosecutor that is this letter your basic evidence. He added that if Maryam Nawaz is the beneficial owner, who has invested money to back her. The bench also said that the NAB has to inform whether the money was invested by Maryam, Nawaz Sharif or anyone else.

The court also observed that the document of trust deed of Maryam Nawaz did not fall in the ambit of forgery rather it could be said a pre-dated document because Maryam Nawaz owned the same.

The court questioned that the NAB is saying that Nawaz Sharif handed over his ill-gotten money to Maryam Nawaz then how Maryam is involved in the offence if the money is given by Nawaz Sharif. The bench further said that you have to tell only what Maryam did to be declared an offender.

The NAB prosecutor said in his arguments that the main accused was not providing answer about how he purchased the property.

At this, Justice Aamer asked from the NAB prosecutor that how a daughter could be declared criminal if her father had earned the wealth through wrong means and he had been giving gifts to her.

Justice Farooq said that the bench would review the trial record and see whether the NAB had proved its case or not.

Irfan Qadir said that his application under section 561-A raised the question on the whole process of the trial. He asserted that the NAB had not fulfilled the basic requirements in this reference and that such cases had been controversial in the past. He argued that the NAB had filed this reference without doing any investigation.

The IHC bench remarked that it had to view that whether there were proofs available against the accused or not. The court asked the defense lawyer to just prove the fact that the NAB could not establish its case. 

Later, the bench directed the NAB to produce its record of the case and deferred the case hearing till February 17 for further proceedings.

Situation for no-trust move against PM favourable: Maryam 

PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawas has said that the situation for tabling a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan is now favourable.

Talking to media after appearing in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) regarding hearing of her appeal against her conviction in the Avenfield here yesterday, she said that Prime Minister Imran Khan has started targeting the Opposition because he is fully aware that his party MNAs are ready to jump out of his ship due to his alleged failures.

She said that due to the failures of Khan, the government’s members of national and provincial assemblies and its allies would not be able to ask votes in their constituencies in the next elections.

Urging the PTI MPAs and MNAs to stop supporting the government, she said that there is turbulence in the country and terrorism is on the rise once again. 

She said that the situation for tabling a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan was now favourable. 

Maryam admitted that Nawaz was initially not in favour of a no-confidence move against the government. But, she said, the party members pressed him that people’s wishes ought to be honoured as it is the only way to steer the country out of the present crisis.

In response to a question, she said that it was too early to talk about Imran Khan’s successor. She also expressed confidence that PTI would be wiped out from the mainstream politics in time to come.

Maryam said it was the responsibility of all the opposition parties to respect the sentiments of inflation-hit people and respond affirmatively to their calls.

Speaking about the Nawaz Sharif’s travel plans, she said Nawaz cannot come back to the country due to medical reasons.