ISLAMABAD - Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz will reach here on the wee hours of Monday and appear before the accountability court in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills reference case.
Earlier, the application of Sharif and his daughter seeking a personal exemption in the Avenfield reference was turned down by trial court judge Mohammad Bashir and had directed the defence counsel to ensure their presence in the court at the next hearing.
Joint Investigation Team head Wajid Zia would depose before the trial court in Al-Azizia Steel Mills reference on Monday as his testimony in Avenfield Apartments reference had concluded.
Zia is a prosecution witness in all the three references against Sharif and other family members.
Before boarding the Islamabad-bound flight, Maryam Nawaz through a tweet said they were at Heathrow Airport and soon be departing for Pakistan. She also confirmed their appearance before the country today (Monday).
Sharif and Maryam Nawaz had left for the UK earlier this week to see the ailing Kulsoom Nawaz, who had been undergoing cancer treatment in London and her condition was stated to be serious according to senior party leaders.
The sudden leaving of Sharif along with his daughter to London triggered a debate as his political opponents had expressed concern over the way they flew out and some of them even suspected that they would not return because the corruption references against the Sharif family were at the final stage.
To support their point, they had said that earlier Hassan and Hussain Nawaz left the country and did not return and they were declared proclaimed offenders by the accountability court.
Similarly, former finance minister Ishaq Dar also left the country and is staying in London to avoid the trial against him in the assets beyond means reference and had been declared a proclaimed offender too for avoiding the trial.
But Sharif and his daughter proved all their political opponents wrong by returning back to face the references cases against him.
