Sharif ‘doesn’t expect justice’ but will still face cases

‘I can only hope justice is served,’ says deposed prime minister

As an accountability court indicted him, his daughter and son-in-law in a corruption case, deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif said on Thursday he didn’t expect justice but would return to Pakistan anyway to defend himself against the graft charges in the court.

“In Pakistan, justice is being killed, but still I will return to my country to face all cases against me,” Sharif said while speaking to journalists in London, where his wife, Kulsoom Nawaz, is receiving treatment for cancer.

Sharif’s statement came hours after an accountability court in Islamabad indicted him, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Captain (retd) Safdar in a graft case involving the ownership of Avenfiled apartments in London.



"You will hardly find any precedence of indicting [an accused] in absentia,” Sharif said. "I can only hope that justice will be served," added the former premier who had been disqualified by the Supreme Court from holding public office in the Panamagate case.

Sharif went on to question the credibility of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) that had probed into his family’s offshore assets on the direction of the apex court.

“Everyone knows how the JIT was formed – and how its members were handpicked,” he added. “Yet they couldn’t find any proof of corruption against us."



Sharif said since the JIT could establish financial corruption against him and his family, an Iqama (permit to work in Gulf states) had been made an excuse to disqualify him. “Every third Pakistani possesses an Iqama,” he added.

Sharif was disqualified by the top court for not declaring unclaimed salary from a company owned by his son in a Gulf state in his nomination papers for the 2013 elections.

“If [the judges] had disqualified me for receiving kickbacks or commission, I would have quit and gone home embarrassed,” he added.



Earlier in the day, the deposed premier said he had not committed any crime and corruption allegations against him were baseless.

"I deserved a transparent trial," Sharif said following his indictment by the accountability court. "But we were deprived of the basic right of fair trial."

Moreover Sharif said the court was conducting the trail in haste. “[The judges] have been directed to adjudicate six corruption references in three months,” he added. "A judge has been appointed to especially monitor the case progress," he said.