Nawaz Sharif produced before accountability court

Former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Monday appeared before a National Accountability Bureau (NAB) court that is hearing the two corruption cases against him and his family.

Sharif, who is currently in Adiala jail in Rawalpindi, is serving a 10-year jail sentence after being convicted in the Avenfield reference case. The case pertained to Sharif family's purchase of the upscale Avenfield apartments in London. He was brought to the court in an armoured vehicle, Geo News reported.

The two remaining graft cases, Al-Azizia and Flagship Investment, was heard by Accountability court Judge Arshad Malik. Wajid Zia, who is the head of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) and the prosecution's star witness also appeared before the court for the hearing.

The accountability court adjourned the hearing of the Sharif family's cases till August 15. Sharif was taken back to the Adiala jail in an armoured vehicle.

On August 7, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) ordered to transfer the pending corruption cases against the Sharif family to another court. A two-member bench comprising Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb and Justice Aamer Farooq had ordered the transfer of the cases on Sharif's plea.

This came after Sharif's legal counsel Khawaja Haris expressed reservations on Accountability Judge-I Mohammad Bashir hearing the same graft cases and filed an appeal requesting to transfer the Al-Azizia and Flagship Investment cases to another court, according to the paper.

The IHC had rejected the bail requests of Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Captain (retd) Muhammad Safdar, who were all convicted in the Avenfield case on July 17.

While Maryam and Safdar were named and convicted in the Avenfield case, Sharif and his UK-based sons, Hussain Nawaz and Hasan Nawaz, were accused in all the three corruption cases - Avenfield reference, Flagship Investment and Al-Azizia reference. Sharif's sons were declared as proclaimed offenders by the court since the proceedings against the Sharif family began in September last year.

The Pakistan Supreme Court on July 10 had ordered the accountability court to wrap up the remaining corruption cases against the Sharif family in six weeks.