ISLAMABAD: The capital’s high court is scheduled to hear on (Monday) today, the appeals of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif against his conviction in the Al-Azizia and Avenfield corruption cases. A division bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) led by Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and comprising Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb will hear the appeals.
The Supreme Court on July 28, 2017, disqualified Nawaz Sharif as a lawmaker for hiding the salary that he was entitled to as a director at one of the companies owned by his sons in his nomination papers submitted ahead of the 2013 polls.
The PML-N supreme leader was later also convicted in the Avenfield reference and the Al-Azizia reference respectively in July 2018 and Dec 2018. These references were filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on the order of the Supreme Court. The former premier filed appeals against his conviction in the IHC.
In Oct 2019, Nawaz, who was serving a jail term in Lahore, was given a rare permission to get medical treatment abroad. Later, the IHC dismissed Nawaz’s appeals after he failed to appear in the court proceedings.
These appeals were, however, resurrected at the request of the PML-N supreme leader after he returned to the country last month, ending his four-year-long self-imposed exile. At the last hearing of the case, one of Nawaz’s lawyers, Azam Nazeer Tarar, had apprised the court that the former premier’s legal team would present arguments in a sequence, beginning with the Avenfield case.
Amjad Pervaiz, another of his counsels, had apprised the court that the IHC had already acquitted Nawaz’s co-accused in the Avenfield case on merit.
Chief Justice Farooq had remarked that he had heard the appeal of Maryam Nawaz, one of the co-accused in the Avenfield case.
A division bench led by Justice Farooq and comprising Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani on Sept 29, 2022, set aside the conviction of Maryam and her spouse Capt (retd) Muhammad Safdar in the case. Justice Aurangzeb also pointed out that he had heard the plea seeking suspension of Nawaz’s sentence in the two corruption cases.
The NAB prosecutor had informed the court that NAB needed half an hour to present legal points. Tarar had requested the court that their appeals might be heard on a daily basis.
The court had later adjourned till Nov 27 while noting that it would conduct a hearing of the case expeditiously if needed.
