IHC to hear Nawaz Sharif’s petition against Al-Azizia reference today

F.P. Report

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) will hear Nawaz Sharif’s appeals against the verdict of Al-Azizia reference on Monday (today).

According to details, a two-member bench of IHC, comprising of Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Amir Farooq will hear the petition.

Former premier’s legal team had last week pleaded with the court to suspend his sentence and release him on bail.

Earlier, the IHC’s registrar office had raised some administrative objections to the petition, however it was fixed for hearing after some delay.

In the petition, he has claimed that the accountability court’s judgment was based on ‘misunderstanding’ and ‘misinterpretation of the law’, and the evidences were addressed inappropriately.

The application further remarked that the grievances of the accused were not heard and addressed.

Furthermore, he has requested the court for a bail until the application of suspension is not heard.

On December 24, the accountability court convicted Sharif in the Al-Azizia reference and sentenced him to seven years in prison, besides imposing a fine of Rs1.5 billion, and acquitted him in the Flagship reference case filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in Mega corruption scandal.

Contrarily, the NAB has also filed two appeals in the IHC, the first has sought an extension in Sharif’s sentence from seven to 14 years, and the other has challenged his acquittal in the Flagship Investment reference.

Earlier, the NAB had filed three cases — Avenfield, Al-Azizia Steel Mills and Hill Metal Establishment, and offshore companies, including Flagship Investment Limited — against the Sharifs on the Supreme Court’s directives in the July 2017 Panamagate verdict. The trial commenced later in September that year.

Nawaz Sharif and his sons Hasan and Hussain were accused in all the three graft references whereas his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Muhammad Safdar were accused in the Avenfield reference only.

On July 6 in 2018, the accountability court had convicted him, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in law Safdar in the Avenfield reference and sentenced them to 10 years, seven years and one year in prison, respectively.

Sharif and his daughter were arrested on July 13 upon returning from London.

However on September 19, an IHC division bench comprising of Chief Justice Minallah and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb suspended his sentence.

Later, the NAB filed an appeal against the ¬suspension of sentence, which is pending adjudication before the Supreme Court.