ISLAMABAD – The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has challenged the Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) order regarding the transfer of Al-Azizia and Flagship Investment references against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his family to another court.
On August 7, a two-member bench of the IHC, comprising Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb, ordered transfer of the cases from the court of Accountability Judge-I Mohammad Bashir to Accountability Court II, Arshad Malik.
The accountability watchdog has moved the Supreme Court against the IHC’s decision, making the former premier and Judge Mohammad Bashir respondents in the appeal.
In its petition filed on Saturday, NAB has stated that after the judgment in Avenfield reference, the two remaining cases were under trial.
https://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/headline/ihc-reserves-verdict-on-sharifs-plea-seeking-transfer-of-corruption-references/
IHC’s order for transfer of the remaining two cases cannot be maintained, it pleaded.
NAB is an affected party of IHC’s decision and Judge Muhammad Bashir should be allowed to continue hearing the two remaining two cases against Nawaz and his family, the petition further said.
An accountability court had sentenced Nawaz to a total of 11 years in prison and slapped a £8 million fine (Rs1.3 billion) in the corruption reference in July. The references were filed by NAB in line with Panama Papers verdict.
Nawaz’ daughter Maryam was sentenced to eight years with a £2 million fine (Rs335 million) while Nawaz’s son-in-law Capt (retd) Safdar was also given a one-year sentence without any fine.
The apex court had earlier granted 45 days to the court to wind up the case.
