The lawyers objected to the court proceedings from the beginning, stating that the National Accountability Bureau and the accountability court were not allowed to handle such cases due to a Supreme Court decision on changes to the National Accountability Ordinance.
They contended that the court no longer had jurisdiction over the reference that was returned to NAB on December 21, 2022.
The anti-graft watchdog was instructed to produce a report by Abida Sajjad, the judge of Accountability Court No. 3, and the defense attorneys were requested to formally raise the jurisdictional question in an application.
On October 30, the hearing was rescheduled.
Since President Asif Zardari had already claimed presidential immunity in this case, the judge asked the NAB for its opinion on his position.
