Avenfield verdict: NAB appeal dismissed; SC says will not interfere in IHC jurisdiction

Detailed verdict says IHC ruling on suspension of Sharifs’ sentences was against the guidelines

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued its detailed judgment regarding dismissal of the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) appeal against the suspension of the sentences to former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Captain (retd) Muhammad Safdar.

The verdict, written by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, stated that the NAB appeal was against a person, who was already in prison and the other party in the case was a woman. The law shows some leniency to women, it read.

NAB had challenged an Islamabad High Court (IHC) ruling which suspended the prison terms awarded to the Sharifs by an accountability court in the Avenfield reference case. The appeal was rejected by a five-member bench of Supreme Court on Monday.

The written verdict criticised the IHC judgment of September 19, stating that the 41-page verdict was against the guidelines. It added that discussing merits of a case related to bail and to conclude final result is also against the rules.

The judgment said that merits of the case are not discussed while deciding a bail application or plea for suspension of sentence but the IHC "had not only undertaken a detailed assessment of the merits of the case but had also recorded some categorical conclusions".

Continuing, it pointed out that the Sharifs' writ petitions for suspension of their sentences were taken up at a time when their main appeals, challenging the accountability court's verdict, had already been fixed for hearing.

Dismissing the appeal, the judgment said that NAB had not levelled allegations of misuse or abuse of the concession of bail. It added that despite the flaws in the IHC judgment, the court did not "feel persuaded to interfere with the jurisdiction exercised by the IHC in deciding the bail applications".

The accountability court had convicted Nawaz, Maryam and Safdar in the Avenfield properties reference and sentenced them to 11, eight and one years, respectively. The convicts challenged the verdict in IHC, which suspended the sentences in September.

NAB had approached the Supreme Court against the IHC ruling. On Monday, the five-member bench, led by Chief Justice Saqib Nisar and comprising Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, Justice Gulzar Ahmed, Justice Mushir Alam and Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel, upheld the IHC verdict.