Islamabad High Court restores pleas of Nawaz Sharif seeking restoration of appeals in Avenfield & Al-Azizia cases
ISLAMABAD, Oct 26 (SABAH): The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday restored pleas of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo and former prime minister Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif seeking restoration of appeals against accountability courts’ conviction verdicts in the Avenfield and Al-Azizia cases.
Nawaz Sharif, a thrice-ousted prime minister, appeared in person before an IHC division bench — led by IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and comprising Justice Miangul Hasan Aurangzeb — which heard his plea against the sentences awarded to him in the two graft cases.
The anti-graft watchdog informed the bench that it has no objections to revival of Nawaz Sharif’s pleas.
When asked if the NAB would defend the judgments against Nawaz Sharif in its arguments upon the restoration of appeals, the anti-corruption body said that it will review the case and evidences before giving its arguments.
In July 2018, Nawaz Sharif 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 NAB, which was 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 and then taken to Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail, from where he was shifted to Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat jail next day. He was also fined Rs1.5 billion and US$25 million in the case.
Nawaz was released from jail in March 2019, following which he left for London in November 2019 after the LHC allowed him to do so on medical grounds. The IHC had declared him a proclaimed offender in both cases in December 2020.
Nawaz then remained in London for nearly four years and only returned to the country earlier this month. The PML-N leader was granted protective bail in both the cases after arriving back in Pakistan. On Monday, the IHC had extended Nawaz’s protective bail in both cases till Oct 26.
During Thursdays’s proceedings, Nawaz Sharif appeared before the court alongside his brother former prime minister and PML-N President Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif and other party leaders.
At the outset of the hearing, NAB Prosecutor General Ehtesham Qadir Shah stated that the court had directed the watchdog’s chairman to provide an opinion on the bail pleas. He informed the court, “We had an extensive discussion regarding the petitions.”
Focusing on the Avenfield case first, Shah said that the reference could potentially be withdrawn if the verdict had not been announced. He also emphasised that there was a possibility of withdrawing the reference during an ongoing trial.
“According to Pakistani laws, if an appeal is accepted against a decision, the reference cannot be withdrawn,” he said. “If an appeal is submitted, a decision must be reached, and it cannot be dismissed based on non-compliance,” he said.
Shah further said that the reference had been filed in accordance with the Supreme Court’s order and had received approval from the NAB chairman.
He highlighted that the accused would be entitled to all legal remedies if they followed the law. “If a proclaimed offender surrenders, they should be granted all legal remedies,” the prosecutor told the court.
He further mentioned that NAB had no objections to restoring appeals against Nawaz’s conviction, affirming, “We will provide our opinion on the appeals once they are scheduled for a hearing.”
Senator Chaudhry Azam Nazir Tarar Advocate, Nawaz Sharif’s lawyer, expressed that in his 30-year career, he had never witnessed a case where a proclaimed offender appeared before the court, yet his right to appeal was not reinstated. “The moment an accused appears in court, the warrants against them stand cancelled the very moment,” he said.
Amjad Parvez, counsel for Nawaz, conveyed that the court had scrutinised his client’s role in the appeals against the sentences of Maryam Nawaz and Captain (retd) Muhammad Safdar.
He explained that the court had concluded that making a decision on the appeals of the remaining two accused was impossible “without evaluating Nawaz’s character”.
Justice Farooq then asked NAB prosecutor general whether he sought a decision on Nawaz’s appeals based on merit.
To this, he responded, “Yes, please. Nawaz Sharif has surrendered and is currently at the disposal of the court.”
The IHC chief justice asked the NAB prosecutor if he intended to apprehend the PML-N leader.
The NAB prosecutor responded, “Not at all, as I have already stated this previously.”
He emphasised that prior court orders related to Nawaz did not include any mention of arrest, stating, “The most the court can do is to obtain new surety bonds from the PML-N leader.”
When it was his turn on the roster, Nawaz’s counsel Advocate Muhammad Amjad Parvez argued that when the sentence was suspended, the court had examined the role of all parties. He referred to Maryam Nawaz Sharif’s acquittal, recalling that the court had observed then that NAB had changed its prosecutor thrice and had failed to establish the PML-N chief’s role.
He cited past precedents and maintained that he was not aware of a case in the past 30 years where appeals were not restored after the convict surrendered before the court.
At one point during the hearing, Justice Aurangzeb wondered whether NAB has challenged Maryam’s acquittal as yet while observing that the “girl” was not relevant to this case.
Following the arguments, the court reserved the verdict on the petitions. Later on the court while verbally announcing the verdict restored the appeals of Nawaz Sharif in both cases.