In another major relief, IHC acquits Nawaz Sharif in Al Azizia reference

ISLAMABAD: In another massive relief for the PML-N, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday acquitted former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills reference, ARY News reported.

IHC division bench, consisting of Chief Justice Aamir Farooq and Justice Mian Gul Hasan Aurangzeb announced the reserved verdict on Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif’s appeal against his conviction in the Al-Azizia reference.

The former prime minister appeared before the court along with his legal team.

Nawaz Sharif was convicted by the accountability court in the Avenfield and Al-Azizia references, however, last week he was acquitted by the IHC in the Avenfield reference.

The accountability court had awarded a 10-year jail term with eight million Pounds fine to Nawaz Sharif in the Avenfield case and 7-year sentence in Al-Azizia reference. He was also fined Rs1.5 billion and US$25 million.

The court also disqualified Sharif for holding public office for 10 years.

However, in 2019, his sentence in Al-Azizia reference was suspended by the Lahore High Court (LHC) on medical grounds. He was then permitted to fly to London on medical grounds.

The IHC had declared him a proclaimed offender in both cases in December 2020.

After returning from the exlie in UK, the PML-N leader filed two separate applications seeking the restoration of his appeals against his conviction in both the references.

At the previous hearing, the IHC rejected the NAB request for remanding back the Al-Azizia Steel Mills reference to the accountability court, and decided to hear the appeal of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Quaid Nawaz Sharif on merit.

During the hearing, Nawaz Sharif’s counsel Amjad Pervaiz said that NAB had filed graft references on the directions of the top court.

Separate references were filed with similar allegations against the former prime minister, he said, adding that they had requested only one reference should be prepared against one allegation.

The lawyer said that NAB had withdrawn its appeal in the Flagship reference while the IHC had acquitted Nawaz Sharif in the Avenfield property case.

Amjad Pervaiz said that the court had to view that whether the prosecution had proved its charges in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills reference or not.

He said that his client was accused of making assets beyond known sources of income. There were 22 witnesses in the cases, including 13 people who presented the case record, he added, adding that there was no eye witness in the case.

He said that Hill Metal Establishment owned by Hussain Nawaz was set up in 2005-2006 in Jeddah. It was set up after selling the Al-Azizia Steel Mills.

The lawyer said that Nawaz Sharif never had any connection with the companies. Amjad Pervaiz said that JIT head Wajid Zia and investigation officer Mehboob Alam could not prove that Hussain Nawaz was the dependent of Nawaz Sharif.

Moreover, he said, Nawaz Sharif was not a public office holder from October 12, 1999 to May 2013. On the occasion, the NAB prosecutor objected on the arguments and said that some miscellaneous applications of Nawaz Sharif were pending which should be decided first or they should withdraw them.

Amjad Pervaiz said that there was an application of defence regarding the videos of judge Arshad Malik, which they would not pursue.

Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb said that if the conduct of the then judge was not good and not based on honesty then it would have impacts on the case. He inquired that why the said judge was terminated.

The chief justice remarked that as per the directions of the top court they had two options – either to decide the case on merit after viewing the evidence or remand it back to the trial court.

Azam Nazeer Tarar said that it would be appropriate if the high court take a decision on merit rather than remanding the case back to the trial court.