The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday handed a major legal victory to Nawaz Sharif, the leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), by acquitting him in the Avenfield reference case.
The IHC’s division bench, led by Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb, not only revoked Nawaz Sharif’s conviction but also dismissed the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) plea in the Flagship reference against him.
This development follows the recent exoneration of PML-N Vice-President Maryam Nawaz and her husband, Captain (retd) Muhammad Safdar in the same Avenfield reference.
Their 2018 conviction was overturned by an accountability court.
The charges against the Sharif family revolved around allegations of owning assets that were allegedly disproportionate to their known sources of income.
In the original verdict handed down in July 2018, Nawaz Sharif was sentenced to 10 years in prison and fined £8 million for his alleged involvement in corruption. Maryam Nawaz received a seven-year prison sentence with a £2 million fine, while Captain Safdar was given a two-year rigorous imprisonment.
The convictions were a result of accusations regarding the ownership of assets exceeding their declared income.
The legal problems began with Nawaz Sharif and Maryam’s arrest in July 2018 upon their return to Lahore from London. Subsequently, in December of the same year, Nawaz received an additional seven-year jail term and a fine of Rs1.5 billion in the Al-Azizia reference case.
Despite these setbacks, Nawaz Sharif filed appeals in the Islamabad High Court, leading to the temporary suspension of the sentences. Notably, during the course of serving the sentence in the Al-Azizia case, Nawaz was permitted to travel abroad for medical treatment due to an immune system disorder.
In December 2020, Nawaz was declared a “proclaimed offender” for not returning to the country, adding another layer of complexity to the legal proceedings. However, last month, he returned to Pakistan after obtaining protective bail in both graft cases, subsequently surrendering before the court. This move led to the restoration of his appeals.
Outside the courtroom, Nawaz expressed gratitude, attributing his legal triumph to divine intervention. PML-N leader Azam Nazeer Tarar asserted that the National Accountability Bureau had failed to present substantial evidence against Nawaz in the Avenfield reference, emphasizing that Nawaz Sharif stands vindicated and acquitted due to a lack of evidence.
During the hearing, Nawaz’s lawyer argued that the acquittal of co-accused Maryam and Safdar earlier in the year was final, citing specific sections of the National Accountability Bureau Ordinance. The lawyer underscored that NAB had not successfully proven the corruption allegations, pointing out that the prosecution had failed to establish Nawaz’s connection to the properties in question.
After an extensive two-hour argument, the court delivered a verdict that not only overturned Nawaz Sharif’s conviction but also marked a crucial turning point in the political battle that has undergone tectonic shifts in the recent past.
