The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Tuesday overturned the conviction of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif in the Al-Azizia reference, in a major boost for the senior politician’s bid to become the next prime minister of the country.
The veteran politician who arrived back home from four years of self-imposed exile in London in October, is eyeing to become the prime minister for a fourth time, according to his party.
To qualify to stand in elections scheduled for February 8, 2024, he needs a lifelong ban on holding any public office to be removed.
Sharif was convicted in 2018 on corruption charges in the case for failure to justify the source of the funds provided to set up Al-Azizia Steel Mills and Hill Metal Establishment (HME) in Saudi Arabia.
The high court announced the verdict it reserved after the completion of arguments from both defence and prosecution lawyers.
“It is unfortunate that if a former prime minister is facing such sham cases, then [we can’t imagine] what is happening to a common man,” senior lawyer Irfan Qadir told Geo News, calling upon the judges who convicted Nawaz to apologise to the nation.
He mentioned that it was the Supreme Court that had instructed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to file references against Nawaz in light of the controversial Panama verdict.
It is worth mentioning that despite the case being pending since 2017, the NAB prosecutor failed to provide any evidence against the PML-N supremo for having assets beyond means, noting that the reference was filed based on directions from the JIT — formed on the SC’s direction.
An accountability court on December 24, 2018, sentenced the former prime minister to seven years in jail and imposed a fine of 2.5 million pounds in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills reference.
Nawaz had submitted an appeal against the decision of the accountability court, requesting the court to annul the imprisonment and fine awarded along with the conviction.
It may be noted that Nawaz has also been acquitted in the Avenfield Apartments reference, after the high court last month accepted his appeal on the conviction in the case.
