ISLAMABAD – The Islamabad High Court on Wednesday told the lawyer of Captain (r) Safdar to make the accountability court in Islamabad, a party to his petition.
Resuming the hearing of a plea filed by former premier Nawaz Sharif’s son-in-law, Captain (retired) Safdar Awan against his conviction in the Avenfield corruption reference, Justice Farooq noted that Captain (retd) Safdar’s petition had been separated from co-accused as his prison sentence was less than five years.
A two-member bench of the IHC, comprising Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb heared the case wherein the petitioner’s lawyer Amjad Pervez argued that a plea to suspend punishment can be accepted if the prison sentence is less than five years.
Safdar’s lawyer contended that while the court had ordered the sentences of all three convicted in the case to begin simultaneously, this was not the case for his client citing that the anti-graft body had taken him into custody for a day.
Pervez further said that the accountability court’s ruling in the Avenfield case was based on a forged signature on a trust deed.
“The expert witness had admitted that the Calibri font was available in 2005,” he said.
https://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/headline/ihc-reserves-verdict-on-sharifs-plea-seeking-transfer-of-corruption-references/
Upon this, Justice Farooq observed that it would be better if the case’s merits were not discussed in the court.
The IHC bench ordered the petitioner to make the accountability court a party to the case as the plea was against the latter’s ruling by the Judge Muhammad Bashir.
On the occasion, NAB objected to Safdar’s petition against conviction, however, the hearing was adjourned till Monday.
The Sharif family had petitioned against their convictions in the Avenfield reference. Nawaz had also filed a plea to transfer the Al-Azizia and Flagship Investment corruption references from the court of Judge Mohammad Bashir to another accountability court which was approved on Tuesday.
https://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/headline/sharifs-guilty-or-innocent-pakistan-awaits-accountability-courts-verdict-in-avenfield-case-today/
The hearing of Maryam and Nawaz’s petition against conviction in the Avenfield case was adjourned till August 13.
