Anti-graft body challenges Avenfield bail

The country’s top anti-graft body on Thursday moved the Islamabad High Court seeking the cancellation of the bail granted to former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in the Avenfield reference.

In a petition filed by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Deputy Prosecutor General Sardar Muzaffar Abbasi, it was argued that the PML-N supreme leader did not deserve the concession anymore as he had left the country. It was also pointed out that an accountability court had declared the former premier a proclaimed offender in the Toshakhana reference.

The anti-corruption body also requested the court to issue directions to home and foreign secretaries to perform their respective duties in accordance with the law to ensure Sharif’s repatriation to the country.

The petition read that the IHC had granted bail to Sharif in the Avenfield reference in 2018 and suspended his sentence.

The NAB prosecutor pointed out that some PML-N leaders had advised Sharif not to return to the country. The prosecutor sought court action against the party leaders for violating its orders.

He noted that NAB had already filed appeals in IHC in connection with the Al-Azizia Steel Mills and Flagship Investment references.

The petition read that Sharif had misused the bail granted on medical grounds in the Al-Azizia case and his party leaders had interfered in court affairs.

The Islamabad Accountability Court-I had sentenced Sharif to 10-year imprisonment in Avenfield case in July 2018, while the Islamabad Accountability Court-II had sentenced him to seven-year jail term in Al-Azizia case in December 2018.

In September 2018, an IHC bench suspended the sentences handed down to the former prime minister, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law capt (retd) Mohammad Safdar in the Avenfield case.

The court ruled that sentence awarded to the petitioners by the accountability court would remain suspended till the final adjudication of the appeal filed by the petitioner. It allowed the release of Sharif, Maryam and Safdar after the submission of Rs0.5 million bond each.

Later, the apex could had upheld the IHC verdict, ruling that NAB has failed to provide the "ground for cancellation of bail" and that the high court had not exceeded its authority in granting bail to the convicts of the Avenfield reference.

On October 29 last year, the IHC granted Sharif an eight-week bail in the Al-Azizia case in view of his deteriorating health.