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Islamabad High Court to Review Evidence in Nawaz Sharif’s Corruption Appeal

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has announced that it will hear the evidence in former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s appeal against his corruption conviction on December 12. The court rejected a request by the national anti-graft body to increase Sharif’s sentence and send the case back to an accountability court. The case, known as the Al-Azizia Steel Mills case, revolves around allegations of financial irregularities and money laundering related to the establishment of the facility in Saudi Arabia by Sharif and his family.

In December 2018, a local accountability court in the capital punished Sharif with a seven-year prison sentence and fined him £2.5 million. The court’s decision also banned him from holding any public office for a decade and required him to forfeit all his properties.

Chief Justice Aamer Farooq of the IHC, who led the division bench hearing Sharif’s appeal, stated, “We have two options, the first is that we call for evidence and decide the appeal on merit, and the second is that we remand the reference back to the accountability court [for fresh hearing].” Deciding the case on merit means that the court will evaluate the evidence, including the charges and the defense, instead of focusing solely on matters of jurisdiction or procedure.

Following the Al-Azizia verdict, Sharif was arrested at the court premises and remained in prison for approximately seven months. He was later granted bail and left for London in November 2019 for medical treatment.

Upon his return to Pakistan after nearly four years of self-imposed exile, Sharif filed appeals against his convictions in two separate corruption references – Al-Azizia and Avenfield. Last month, the IHC acquitted him in the Avenfield reference.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Pakistan’s anti-graft body, had requested the court to increase Sharif’s sentence in the Al-Azizia reference and remand the case back to an accountability court.

During the hearing, Sharif’s counsel, Azam Nazeer Tarar, urged the court to decide the matter on merit, emphasizing that “a lot of excesses have already been committed against Nawaz Sharif.”

His legal counsel, Amjad Pervaiz, informed the court that three references were filed against Sharif on the Supreme Court’s orders in the Panama Papers case. Pervaiz argued that only one reference should have been filed, as all three accused Sharif of having assets beyond his means. He also stressed that Sharif had no involvement in the bank accounts or operations of the companies in question. Pervaiz further highlighted that Sharif had not held any public office from October 1999 to May 2013.

The court also briefly discussed petitions regarding a video scandal involving the late accountability court judge Arshad Malik. The NAB prosecutor urged the court to address the issue, but Sharif’s counsel stated that they did not wish to pursue it due to Malik’s passing.

After considering the arguments from both parties, the court decided to hear the case on merit and adjourned the proceedings until Tuesday.

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Source: [Arab News](https://www.arabnews.com)