Nawaz Sharif gets big reliefe from court in Al-Azizia and Avenfield references

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday accepted a plea of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who had south the revival of his previous appeals against the conviction in Al-Azizia and Avenfield references after the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) told the court that the watchdon has no objection to the revival of the appeals.

The IHC division bench pronounced the verdict reserved earlier.

IHC division bench headed by Amir Farooqui heard the plea of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nwaz supremo, who earlier surrendered before the IHC.

During the hearing, Nawaz Sharif’s counsel Amjad Parvez Advocate and Azam Nazir Tarar, appeared before the court. NAB Prosecutor General Ehtesham Qadir Shah, also appeared before the court

NAB Prosecutor General, Ihtesham Qadir Shah told the court that the anti-corruption watchdog did not want to arrest Nawaz.

He said that they have examined the facts and the law regarding both the appeals. He said that the references were initiated following the Supreme Court’s orders, and the Supreme Court directed NAB to file the references and even established the JIT.

Shah said that the JIT filed both references, and the appeals were currently under consideration.

Shah said that the JIT filed both references, and the appeals were currently under consideration.

The NAB prosecutor told the court that references could be withdrawn either before or after the individual has been convicted, but not after the sentence has been passed.

He said that appeals can be heard only after a decision has been made. Once an appeal is admitted for hearing, it cannot be withdrawn, the NAB prosecutor told the court.

“After the court granted an ad-interim relief, we reached an agreement, and it created an impression in the media as if NAB had surrendered, which is not the case,” he said adding that there is no objection from NAB regarding the appeals to revive Nawaz Sharif’s appeals.

During the hearing, Justice Mian Gul Hassan Aurangzeb told Nawaz’s counsel why do you fear despite the fact that the NAB doesn’t want to arrest Nawaz Sharif.

When the IHC chief justice inquired, “Do you not want to arrest Nawaz Sharif?”, the NAB prosecutor said that “We have previously stated that we do not want to arrest Nawaz Sharif. We have no objection to the revival of the appeals. There is no court order to arrest him.”

He said that at most the court can demand new sureties from Nawaz Sharif at most.

Nawaz Sharif’s lawyer Amjad Parvez stated ‘if the appeals are reinstated, the suspension of the sentence will be viewed in that context.”

He said that if the appeals are revived, the request for protective bail will become irrelevant.