Daily Times

An appeal against the sentence of former Prime Minister and Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) leader Nawaz Sharif has been fixed for hearing in Al-Azizia Steel Mills reference.

A two-member bench of the Islamabad High Court will hear the appeal on September 1. At the same time, the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) appeal against the former premier’s sentence extension and acquittal in the Flagship Investment reference has also been fixed for hearing.

Accountability Court Judge Muhammad Arshad Malik had pronounced the verdicts of Al-Azizia Steel Mills and Flagship references. The judge was later sacked following a video scandal in which he could be seen confessing that he had been blackmailed into convicting Nawaz.

A day earlier, Information Minister Senator Shibli Faraz said that the government would use the legal process to bring former prime minister Nawaz Sharif back to the country and warned that Prime Minister Imran Khan would not succumb to political blackmailing by the opposition.

Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Faraz said that Nawaz Sharif was drinking coffee in London and doing politics, while at home, Maulana Fazlur Rehman was talking to Bilawal Bhutto but not with Shahbaz Sharif. “We will use all legal means to bring Nawaz Sharif back. The government has decided to contact the British government through the Foreign Office to bring him back,” the minister had told a press conference.

Reports said on Saturday that NAB will approach accountability court to declare former prime minister Nawaz Sharif a proclaimed offender in a reference accusing him of receiving luxury vehicles and gifts from Toshakhana. The NAB will file an appeal in accountability court to declare PML-N supremo a proclaimed offender in the Toshakhana case. The anti-graft body has also decided to inform the IHC that the PML-N leader is absconding. The bureau will file an appeal in Islamabad High Court (IHC) for implementation on Nawaz’s sentence in Al Azizia reference, NAB sources said.

The NAB says that the bail granted to the former premier has become ineffective, and that he is apparently an absconder now. Sources said that the anti-corruption watchdog will approach the British government through Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the deportation of the former prime minister.

It is pertinent to mention here that Nawaz Sharif is currently in London for medical treatment after having been granted bail on medical grounds. The accountability court of Islamabad had issued his non-bailable arrest warrants over failure to attend the trial proceeding in Toshakhana case and had also initiated the process to declare him a proclaimed offender.

A day earlier, an accountability court has also issued notices to PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif and members of the Sharif family to appear before it for a hearing regarding a money laundering and assets beyond means reference on August 27. The NAB last week had filed a reference against 16 accused, including Shehbaz and his son Hamza Shehbaz, in a money laundering case. The case, which pertains to corruption to the tune of Rs 7 billion, was filed in the court of an admin judge on August 17. The reference, consisting of 55 volumes, also includes the names of Suleman Shehbaz, Rabia, Nusrat Shahbaz, and Nisar Ahmad. Daughters Rabia Imran and Javeria Ali have also been named in the reference while Suleman is a proclaimed offender in this case. The other nominated include Nisar Ahmad, Syed Muhammad Tahir Naqvi, Ali Muhammad Khan, Qasim Qayyum, Rashid Karamat, Masroor Anwer, Muhammad Usman, Fazal Dad Abbasi, Muhammad Shoaib Qamar and Haroon Yousafzai. The bureau had accepted requests from four people to become approvers against the Shehbaz family in the reference. These include Muhammad Mushtaq alias Mushtaq Cheeni, his son Yasir Mushtaq, Shahid Rafique and Aftab Ahmad.