My hands are clean, claims Nawaz after court hearing

The accountability court conducting corruption proceedings against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his family concluded the day's hearing on Wednesday afternoon. Nawaz, while speaking to Geo News, said he has appeared before courts on a regular basis and claimed his hands are clean. The deposed prime minister, while leaving the accountability court premises, further claimed that he has never indulged in corrupt practices and never committed any crime.

Nawaz, once again, expressed his bewilderment at the corruption references registered against him.

During today's hearing, Mohammad Abdul Wahid, a director general at the federal information ministry, recorded his statement in court.

Nawaz and daughter Maryam arrived in the capital from Lahore earlier today and reached the court along with senior party leaders and government officials. Nawaz's son-in-law MNA Capt (retd) Safdar was also present in court. The hearing of the case was adjourned on Tuesday owing to the absence of the lead defence counsel, Khawaja Harris.

National Accountability

Bureau (NAB) filed three corruption references against the Sharif family in September last year in light of the Supreme Court's July 28 verdict in the Panama Papers case. The references pertain to the Al- Azizia Steel Mills, offshore companies including Flagship Investment Ltd, and Avenfield properties of London.

Four prosecution witness-

es in the Avenfield reference were slated to record their statements at the last hearing. Moreover, the date for recording statements of two UKbased witnesses was also to be determined yesterday.

At the hearing on Friday, the court had approved NAB's plea to record statements of the two UK-based witnesses via video link in the Avenfield reference.