Toshakhana case: NAB court orders confiscation of Sharif’s properties

ISLAMABAD: An accountability court on Thursday ordered the confiscation of property owned by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in the Toshakhana vehicles’ reference.

The properties include 1,650 kanals (about 200 acres) agricultural land in Lahore, a Mercedes Benz, a Toyota Land Cruiser, two tractors, local and foreign bank accounts, a bungalow in Murree and a 102 kanal (13 acres) land in Sheikhupura.

Accountability Court-III Judge Asghar Ali heard the Toshakhana case, moved by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in which former president Asif Zardari and ex-prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani are also named as accused.

Gillani appeared before the court. Zardari, Anwar Majeed and Abdul Ghani Majeed filed one-day exemption requests from the hearing, which were accepted by the court.

At the outset of hearing, NAB officials produced details pertaining to the assets of Nawaz Sharif, who was recently declared an absconder in the case. The court ordered the NAB to confiscate the property owned by Sharif.

Meanwhile, Zardari’s lawyer Farooq Naek conducted a cross examination with prosecution witness Imran Zafar, who told the court that he had joined the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in 2010 and was promoted to the post of deputy director in 2018.

To a query, the witness said he had been working as a record-keeper in the ECP, adding that he had provided Zardari’s assets details to NAB at the directives of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC). The lawyer objected that the witness had not produced the CEC’s letter in that regard.

Naek said the witness had produced no such order along with the case documents. He produced the letter of the CEC to the judge and said the ECP had not given any such permission in that document.

NAB Deputy Prosecutor General Sardar Muzaffar Abbasi objected over the defence queries and said Naek was “trying to pressurise the witness”.

To a question, the witness said he had received a letter on February 12, 2019 and then appeared before the NAB investigation officer the same day. To this, the lawyer said the witness did not present the letter in which the NAB information officer directed him to appear on the same date. The witness said he had not attested the nomination papers of Zardari but he had verified his assets. To this, Naek said there was no stamp of his on the documents. Zafar said he had not given any false statement before the court, adding that Zardari never signed any documents in front of him.

The second NAB witness, Zubair Sidiqui, told the court during the cross-examining that he had been working in the Cabinet Division as a confidential officer. He had appeared three times in the Toshakhana case. He produced documents copies related to the vehicles of Toshakhana. The court ordered the witness to return on the next hearing with original documents. The court adjourned the hearing of the case till October 13.