Islamabad : An accountability court on Monday sentenced former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to seven years in prison in Al-Azizia Steel Mills corruption reference, while acquitted him in the the Flagship Investments reference.
The Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) leader was taken into custody after the verdict and will be transported to Adiala Jail.
He was also fined Rs 1.5 billion in the Al-Azizia reference.
—IANS
Lahore : Former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz were arrested by anti-corruption officials late on Friday after they arrived in Lahore from Abu Dhabi. The two were taken to Islamabad in a private plane.
According to media reports, dozens of security officials entered the plane as it landed and asked other passengers to deboard. The passports of both Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders were seized by a three-member Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) team.
Nawaz and Maryam were flown in a small private plane to Islamabad. Upon landing in Islamabad, the two would either be flown to Adiala Jail or driven to Attock Jail, the reports said.
Nawaz and Maryam were convicted by an accountability court in the Avenfield corruption reference last Friday and handed jail sentences of 10 years and seven years, respectively. The former was found guilty of owning assets beyond known sources of income, while his daughter was convicted for aiding and abetting her father in covering up the “conspiracy”.
After the pronouncement of the verdict, Nawaz and Maryam had said they would return to Pakistan and appeal against the decision. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and the Punjab government had made elaborate arrangements to take the father-daughter duo into custody upon arrival.
In Lahore, authorities have braced to maintain law and order, as a large number of PML-N workers and supporters have gathered in various parts of the city to welcome the ousted Prime Minister and his daughter.
Earlier, the father and daughter departed late from Abu Dhabi as their flight got delayed for over two hours. They had left London the previous day.
—IANS
Islamabad : Ousted Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Captain Mohammad Safdar were indicted by an accountability court on Thursday in a corruption reference pertaining to the London properties owned by the family.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had filed three references against the Sharif family related to their Avenfield properties in London, the Azizia Steel Mills as well as another 16 offshore companies. One reference was filed against Finance Minister Ishaq Dar.
The references were filed by the NAB in the National Accountability Court in the light of Supreme Court orders in so-called Panama Papers case. The apex court had disqualified Sharif from holding office on July 28.
All three accused pleaded not guilty to the charges and vowed to contest the case. The court indicted the former Premier through pleader Zafir Khan as Sharif is in London with his ailing wife Begum Kulsoom Nawaz. The charges against Maryam and Safdar were framed in person, Dawn online reported.
The former Prime Minister was also indicted in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills and Hill Metal Establishment references as well. His sons — Hassan and Hussain — were named co-accused in the chargesheet in the references.
The court proceeded with the verdict after rejecting applications filed by Sharif, Maryam and Safdar requesting suspension of their indictment.
Maryam Nawaz told reporters as she was leaving the court: “One day there would be accountability of the accountability process her family is going through. Injustice and atrocities cannot continue together.”
She said this was the first case of its kind “in which the verdict had been announced first and the trial was being held later.”
Commenting on reports that a NAB team has gone to London to collect evidence about Sharifs’ properties, Maryam wondered how NAB could now be entrusted with the investigation when the Supreme Court had criticised it for being ineffective during the Panama Papers case hearings.
“Has the JIT’s fraud been exposed or has NAB suddenly woken up?” she asked.
Speaking to Geo News about Maryam and Captain Safdar’s indictment, Awami Muslim League (AML) leader Sheikh Rashid said: “The law has truly been implemented today.”
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) spokesman Fawad Chaudhary said his party was satisfied with the progress of the case.
“We are happy this case is proceeding correctly and at a swift pace. This indictment has come in just one case, there are two other cases as well.
“All the money involved in these cases belongs to the people of Pakistan, and this money will be brought back to Pakistan,” Chaudhary said.
A number of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders and workers were present outside the court complex. They held a protest after the police did not allow them to enter the premises.
—IANS
Nawaz Sharif
Islamabad : Ousted Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday was re-elected “unopposed” as the president of the ruling PML-N on Tuesday, reclaiming his position as the head of his namesake party.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Tariq Fazal Chaudhry submitted Sharif’s papers for party president in the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) while no other candidate from the party contested the election, reports Dawn news.
The commission will formally announce Sharif as the party president in a meeting of PML-N’s general council later in the day.
Sharif is slated to address the meeting, which is being attended by all senior PML-N leaders including Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar.
On Monday, opposition lawmakers protested in the National Assembly when Law Minister Zaid Hamid introduced an amendment in the “Election Bill 2017”, reports Dawn news.
Earlier a politician could not hold any party position if disqualified by a court.
The law was passed to allow the PML-N to re-elect Sharif as party chief.
Sharif had relinquished the position of PML-N chief after his ouster from power under the July 28 verdict of the Supreme Court in the Panama Papers case.
—IANS
Pakistan Supreme Court
Islamabad : In a massive setback to Nawaz Sharif, the Pakistan Supreme Court on Friday dismissed the review petitions filed by the deposed Prime Minister and his children against the July 28 Panama Papers judgment.
A five-judge SC bench headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa had taken up the petitions seeking review of the court’s ruling which disqualified Sharif and ordered the the filing of corruption cases against him and his children — Hussain, Hassan and Maryam Nawaz, son-in-law retired Captain Mohammad Safdar and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar.
“For the reasons (to be) recorded later, all these review petitions are dismissed,” Justice Khosa announced. The reasons will be revealed later in a detailed order, the Dawn online reported.
With the rejection of the review petitions, Sharif’s disqualification as a member of the Parliament remains valid. The Sharif family and Dar will now face corruption cases filed by the National Accountability Bureau in the accountability court.
Speaking to the media after the verdict, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Fawad Chaudhry said the court’s decision is a victory for the nation, Geo News reported.
The bench also comprised Justice Gulzar Ahmed, Justice Ijazul Ahsan, Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed and Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan — who along with the latter two headed the special implementation bench in the Panama case that oversaw the work of a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) that examined the references to the Sharifs and Dar in the Panama Papers.
On July 28, Sharif was dismissed by the apex court and stepped down after a probe into the Panama papers scandal revealed he had not declared income received from a firm owned by his son in Dubai.
The Panama Papers revealed in April 2016 that three of his four children had set up offshore companies in the British Virgin Islands through which they owned property in London, leading the top court to order an investigation after a year of protests by the opposition.
After Friday’s decision, the Sharif family and Dar will have to seek justice in the Islamabad Accountability Court, where three cases against the Sharif family and one against the Finance Minister have been filed.
The members of the Sharif family have been summoned by the accountability court on September 19 and Dar on September 20.
—IANS