ISLAMABAD: National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman Javed Iqbal approached the Supreme Court of Pakistan pleading to set aside the Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) decision to proceed with the petitions of convicted Sharifs for the suspension of verdict given by an accountability court in the Avenfield case.
NAB’s application rather requested the apex court to direct the high court to take up the hearing of Sharifs’ appeals against their sentence in the corruption reference.
Nawaz’s counsel Khawaja Haris filed an appeal on July 16 challenging the verdict against the Sharif family and requested its suspension till IHC’s adjudication in the case. A similar appeal was filed by lawyer Amjad Pervaiz on behalf of Maryam and Safdar.
The appeals highlighted legal flaws in the Avenfield reference case and asked for the the accountability court’s verdict to be declared null and void and the three convicts to be released on bail.
On July 6, an accountability court, in Avenfield corruption reference, had sentenced former premier Nawaz Sharif to a total of eleven years in prison and imposed a £8 million fine in the corruption reference. His daughter Maryam Nawaz was sentenced to eight years with a £2 million fine while her husband Capt. (Retd) Safdar was given one-year sentence.
The NAB chairman in his application contended that without issuing a notice to the state, it was not reasonable of the high court to pass orders pertaining to proceed with the suspension of the conviction. Adding, “The high court could not review its own decision of hearing the appeals.”
Further arguing, the NAB application stated that the petitioners had not provided any valid reasons for seeking the relief, besides the relief being sought was in contravention with the spirit of the provisions of Section 32 of the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO).
Hence, the decision of the high court to proceed with the suspension of the conviction cases was liable to be set aside, the NAB application stressed.
