ISLAMABAD -UNS:The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday adjourned the PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif’s appeals against his convictions in the Avenfield Apartments and Al-Azizia references till Wednesday (November 29).
In July 2018, as the then-prime minister, Nawaz was handed 10 years in jail in the Avenfield properties corruption reference for owning assets beyond known income and one year for not cooperating with the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), both of which were to be served concurrently.
The Al-Azizia Steel Mills corruption reference pertains to the case in which he was sentenced to seven years in jail on Dec 24, 2018. He was also fined Rs1.5 billion and US$25 million.
The IHC had declared him a proclaimed offender in both cases in December 2020. After leaving for London on medical grounds, Nawaz remained there for nearly four years and only returned to the country last month.
After returning from the UK, the PML-N leader had filed two separate applications seeking the restoration of his appeals against his conviction in both the references.
He had contended that while he was abroad for medical treatment, the pending appeals were dismissed for non-prosecution. The applications requested the court to revive the pending appeals for a decision on them on merit. Last month, the IHC had restored the appeals in question.
Ahead of today’s hearing, Nawaz arrived in court amid tight security. He appeared before the court accompanied by his legal team, including ex-law minister Azam Nazir Tarar and Amjad Pervaiz.
A video shared by PML-N on X (formerly Twitter) showed former finance minister Ishaq Dar arriving alongside the ex-premier at the IHC.
The hearing
IHC Chief Justice Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb presided over today’s hearing. At the outset of the hearing, Nawaz’s lawyer Pervaiz presented a chronological list of event in the Panama reference against the Sharif family.
Upon the court inquiring if the “facts” presented by him were from before the reference was filed, the counsel answered that “three facts” were from before while the rest of them were from afterwards.
Citing the Supreme Court’s order on the Panama Papers case, in which Nawaz was disqualified, the lawyer recalled that a joint investigation team had been formed in light of the verdict.
At this point during the hearing, Justice Aurangzeb asked whether the counsel’s arguments had “any scope”. Pervaiz then apprised the court of the JIT’s constitution and its members.
He informed the IHC that the JIT submitted a 12-volume report to the apex court in July 2017 after which the involved parties presented their arguments and the court issued the final verdict on July 28, 2017, disqualifying his client.
