Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued notices to former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz as it heard a petition filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) challenging suspension of prison terms of the convicts in the Avenfield properties reference, a private TV channel reported.

The NAB had filed the petition in the apex court on Monday challenging an earlier decision by the Islamabad High Court suspending sentences given to Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam and son-in-law Capt (r) Safdar. A Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar heard the petition and issued notices to the former prime minister and his daughter. The court observed that it would not take notice of the appeal against Captain (r) Safdar’s sentence suspension since his prison term was only one year.

The NAB prosecutor in attendance told the bench that the IHC order comprised 43 pages. To this, the chief justice observed that the order should have taken two pages at the most. “Ask anyone, if they have ever seen an order taking up as many as 43 pages,” he remarked.

The bench then adjourned the hearing of the petition till November 6.

In its petition, the NAB has asked for the September 19 decision by the IHC to be declared null and void, contending that the “IHC had failed to appreciate that through its order, it had seriously prejudiced the case of the prosecution by holding that the trial court judgement suffered from obvious and glaring defects and infirmities and that the convictions and sentences handed down to the accused might not be sustained ultimately.”

Last month, Justice Athar Minallah of the IHC had suspended the sentences handed to the former prime minister, his daughter and son-in-law by an accountability court on July 6.

Published in Daily Times, October 25^th 2018.