The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has begun hearing arguments on PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif’s appeals against his convictions in the Avenfield Apartments and Al-Azizia references.
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.
IHC’s Justice Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb are presiding over the hearing.
The hearing
At the outset of the hearing, Pervaiz began presenting his arguments before the court.
Upon the court inquiring if the “facts” presented by him were from before the reference was filed, the counsel answered that “three facts” were prior to it 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.
Justice Aurangzeb then asked the counsel, “What orders did the Supreme Court clearly issue? Did the SC issue any directives to the NAB (National Accountability Bureau) chairman?”
To this, Pervaiz responded that the apex court “gave positive orders to NAB that references be filed against Nawaz Sharif”.
He specified that the SC had ordered for the Avenfield reference to be filed against Nawaz, his daughter Maryam, sons Husain and Hasan, and Captain (rtd) Safdar, while the Al-Azizia and Flagship references were also to be filed against Nawaz and his two sons.
Pervaiz then said, “According to the Supreme Court’s orders, NAB can also file a supplementary reference on new evidence coming forth.”
At this, Justice Aurangzeb asked the counsel about what happened during the period between the SC issuing orders and the NAB filing the references. He further inquired if all three references were filed on the same day, to which Pervaiz replied in the affirmative, adding that they were filed in September 2017.
The IHC judge then asked if the ex-premier was present in the country when the references were filed, to which the counsel responded that his client was in the United Kingdom along with his daughter.
At this point during the hearing, Justice Farooq asked whether the suspects were indicted in the Avenfield reference only or in all three cases. Pervaiz replied that they were indicted in “all three cases on the same day” but the proceedings were held separately later on.
He further informed the IHC that the prosecution did not provide him with a copy of volume 10 of the JIT report. The chief justice then said, “At least some of the details from volume 10 would have come on record during the trial?”
However, the lawyer said that no document from the volume was brought on the record, adding that a “few questions were answered during the interrogation”.
