Defence Lawyers Completes Cross Examination With Three Witnesses

The defence lawyers on Tuesday concluded the cross examination with three prosecution witnesses in LNG reference against former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and ex-finance minister Miftah Ismail

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Jun, 2021 ) :The defence lawyers on Tuesday concluded the cross examination with three prosecution witnesses in LNG reference against former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and ex-finance minister Miftah Ismail.

AC-II Judge Muhammad Azam Khan heard the graft reference filed by National Accountability Bureau (NAB). Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and other co-accused appeared before the court.

At the outset of hearing, accused Abdullah Khaqan Abbasi's lawyer conducted cross examination with witness Fasihuddin. He stated that there was no name of Abdullah Khaqan Abbasi in documents produced by him. The accused also didn't have been on any public post, he said.

After this, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi's counsel Barrister Zafarullah conducted his cross examination with NAB witness Allah Nawaz. He said that he was serving in finance division. He had never given any report to the Parliament regarding the gas infrastructure and no funds were released for any other project on his name.

The witness said that no funding was done from the DIDC for LNG projects, adding that even no funds were demanded for the construction of LNG project.

During hearing, the judge asked the witness to first understand the lawyer's question before answering. The witness further said that he couldn't say anything about the legitimacy of the LNG project.

During this day hearing, Abdullah Khaqan Abbasi's lawyer concluded his cross examination with witness Fasihuddin and Syed Sajid Raza, and Barrister Zafarullah cross examined witness Allah Nawaz while Ikhlaq Awan Advocate completed cross examination with Allah Nawaz and Syed Sajid Raza.

Meanwhile, the three accused including Abdul Samad Daud, Hussain Daud and Aamir Naseem requested the court to grant permission for travel abroad. The NAB prosecutor Usman Masood informed the judge that the accused Names were into exit control list and they had to approach interior ministry for relief. The court sought arguments on the applications on June 16, while the hearing on the main reference was adjourned till June 22.