Nawaz Sharif's plea seeking joint verdict on NAB cases dismissed

Islamabad [Pakistan], June 22 (ANI): The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday dismissed former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's petition seeking a joint verdict on the three corruption references against him.
Justices Mohsin Akhtar Kayani and Aamer Farooq had reserved their decision on Thursday.
The petition was filed against the order passed by the accountability court on June 5 which ruled out clubbing together all three references.
Accountability Judge Muhammad Bashir had then observed that the petitioner might challenge the verdict in the high court.
Azam Nazir Tarrar and Amjad Pervez appeared on behalf of the Sharif family during Thursday's proceedings in the high court.
NAB prosecutor Sardar Muzaffar, during the hearing, argued that defence lawyer Khawaja Haris had already started presenting arguments in one reference, thus, the petition in the high court has become invalid, the report said.
He added that all of the three references were independent, maintaining that the complete arguments for one reference had already been presented before the accountability court.
Sharif, his sons Hasan and Hussain, daughter Maryam, son-in-law Capt (retd) Mohammad Safdar and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar are facing multiple corruption references in the accountability court.
The Pakistan Supreme Court, on July 28 last year, had disqualified Sharif from holding the office of the prime minister and asked the National Accountability Bureau to file references against the Sharif family in connection with corruption cases against them.
On the orders of the country's Supreme Court, a JIT was formed last year to probe the allegations on the Sharif family. (ANI)