ISLAMABAD - The Islamabad High Court (IHC) will Monday (today) resume hearing in National Accountability Bureau (NAB)’s appeal against trial court’s verdict of acquitting the PPP’s co-chairman in two references pertaining to polo ground and Ursus tractors.
A divisional bench of IHC comprising Chief Justice of IHC Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Aamer Farooq will conduct hearing on NAB appeals wherein it had already sought the references record against Zardari from the accountability court which had acquitted the accused.
NAB had stated in its appeal that the trial court had no powers to acquit the accused in corruption case. The anti-graft body had challenged the acquittal of Zardari by an accountability court in two references in 2014.
NAB had moved the IHC through its prosecutor general and challenged AC decision in which it had acquitted Zardari in two corruption references including polo ground and Ursus tractors corruption references.
In the application, NAB had cited Zardari as respondent and pleaded the court to declare the said verdict of AC as null and void. The NAB prosecutor had also requested the court to permit them to produce witnesses and evidences against Zardari before the court in this matter.
Earlier, Accountability Court (AC) Islamabad had acquitted former president Asif Ali Zardari in two corruption cases as the NAB failed to give any proof and produce any witness. The court announced the verdict saying the accused had not been proven guilty so far. It further stated that evidence against the former president was not sufficient for further proceedings.
The counsel for the former president had contended before the court that the main accused in these references had already been acquitted, so a co-accused could not be tried and should be acquitted under the NAB Ordinance, 1999.
The NAB requested the high court to declare the decision of the trial court null and void, submitting that it had given the decision in haste without assessing the gravity of the offence of the accused.
NAB prosecutor contended that the court’s decision was based on presumptions and conjectures which had no value in the eyes of the law.
Therefore, he prayed to the court to set aside the said judgment of AC which exonerated former President Asif Ali Zardari from the charges of corruption in these two references.
Prosecutor further prayed to the court that accused may be sentenced in accordance with the law and for the larger interest of justice as overwhelming evidence is available against him.
The NAB also highlighted in the appeal that the LHC’s deputy registrar judicial in a letter dated Feb 19, 2000, explicitly stated that Ehtesab Bench sent the original record and all the related documents to the Supreme Court in another appeal filed by the accused seeking acquittal in this case. However, instead of summoning the original record from the superior judiciary, the trial court opted to reject the appeal.
The prosecutor adopted that without summoning the original record and documents from the apex court, the accountability court proceeded to pass the acquittal order on an application moved by the accused under Section 265-K of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) which empowers the trial court to exonerate the accused at any stage.