Court allows recording of foreign witnesses' statements through video link

ISLAMABAD (92 News) – The accountability court (AC) has on Friday accepted the petition of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on the recording of statements of two witnesses through the video link in the Avenfield Properties supplementary reference against the Sharif family. The court had earlier reserved its verdict on the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) plea to record statements of two UK-based witnesses via video link. The AC judge Muhammad Bashir read out the reserved judgment on the NAB plea. The court remarked that the witnesses will record their statements through video link from Pakistan’s High Commission in Britain. The anti-graft watchdog had filed an application to record the statements of Raja Hassan Akhtar and Robert Ridley through the video link. In today’s proceedings, a plea was submitted in the court on behalf of former premier Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz seeking exemption from personal appearance in the court, which the court accepted on assurance that the two will ensure appearance in the court on the next hearing. Meanwhile, Captain (r) Safdar was present in court and marked his attendance.