New Delhi: Pakistan's accountability court has formally indicted ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif in three separate corruption references filed against him and his children by the National Accountability Bureau.
The court adjourned the hearing until November 15.
Rejecting his plea to club all the cases together, the judge called the former PM to the rostrum and read out the charges to him in each of the three references. Calling the investigation "malafide and politically motivated", Sharif pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Sharif also said since the Supreme Court had given six months to wrap up the cases against him, the court will have to decide each of the four references (including one against finance minister IshaqDhar) within 45 days. The judge, however, assured that all cases would be heard simultaneously and concluded within the specified timeframe.
Outside the court, Sharif accused the judiciary of being biased and full of hatred for him. "These judges are full of hatred and anger. I knew that the decision of the review petition I had filed in the Supreme Court would not come in my favour," he told reporters a day after the SC had issued a detailed verdict on his review petition.
In its order, the Supreme Court said that Sharif had tried to fool the people inside and outside the Parliament. "He even tried to fool the court without realising that "you can fool all the people for some of the time, some of the people all the time but you cannot fool all the people all the time." “Refuge in evasive, equivocal and non-committal replies does not always help," said the 23-page SC judgment.
"Their hatred was reflected in their words. Their hatred, anger and words will become a dark chapter of history," Sharif said, adding that the judiciary was responsible for penning down several dark chapters in Pakistan's history. "Their judgment on my review petition would also be written in dark letters," he said.
Pakistan's top court had disqualified Nawaz Sharif on July 28 in the Panama Papers case verdict that showed that his children were owners of offshore companies registered in the British Virgin Islands and the companies were used to buy offshore properties.