IHC rejects Zardari’s plea seeking to stop trials in AC

ISLAMABAD (APP): The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday rejected a plea of Asif Ali Zardari seeking orders for accountability court to stop trials against him in fake accounts references.

The court also clubbed Zardari’s petition challenging the NAB jurisdiction in Park Lane reference with the identical cases of Bilal Sheikh and Nusratullah.

A division bench comprising Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri conducted hearing on petition of Asif Ali Zardari.

During the course of proceeding, Zardari’s lawyer Farouk H. Naek prayed the court to order the accountability court to stop the trial and record evidence against his client till the decision of this court. He further pleaded that petitions were also pending before the SC seeking to shift Zardari’s cases to Sindh province.

The court rejected the request of Zardari’s lawyer. Justice Farooq remarked that let the trial court record the evidence, adding that NAB was not going to conclude trial within month.

Deputy Prosecutor General NAB Sardar Muzaffar Abbasi said that the prosecution had recorded the statements of ten witnesses in one case before the trial court judge but the defence lawyer could not conduct cross-examination of them. He prayed the court to also fix the Bilal Sheikh and Brigadier (reted) Nusrat-ullah’s cases with this identical matter. The court cl-ubbed 3 cases and adjo-urned hearing till Feb 11.