ISLAMABAD - An Accountability Court (AC) on Tuesday adjourned hearing in Park Lane corruption reference against former president Asif Ali Zardari and other accused till Wednesday (today).
The court would continue recording the statements of NAB witnesses today.
AC-II Judge Muhammad Azam Khan conducted the hearing. Former president Asif Ali Zardari and his lawyer Farouk H. Naek couldn’t appear before the court due to sickness.
The associate lawyer submitted an application to the court on behalf of former president, seeking exemption from the hearing and also informed the court that Naek couldn’t appear due to backache.
At the outset of hearing, the court observed that the witnesses had arrived from Karachi and it was difficult for them to bear travel expenditures again.
NAB Prosecutor Sardar Muzafar Abbasi requested the court to issue arrest warrants of the accused for not appearing in the court since his department wanted the trial to proceed.
Later, Associate Lawyer Mirza Shabbir told the court that he had taken instructions from Asif Zardari as his representative here.
The court asked him to submit an application to it formally in the next hearing to become a representative of the accused and granted one-day exemption to Zardari from hearing.
Meanwhile, recording his statement as NAB witness, Joint Registrar Companies, Security Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) Ahsan Aslam stated that he had appeared before NAB investigation officer on May 8, 2019 in an inquiry pertaining to Park Lane and Parthenon Company and presented the relevant record to him.
Zardari’s lawyer objected that the NAB prosecutor was assisting the witness whenever he forgot the facts. The witness said that three seized memo of Park Lane reference were prepared before witnesses.
