The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday decided to hear former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s appeal against his conviction in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills case “on merit” as it rejected the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) prayer to remand the case back to a trial court. A division bench of the capital’s high court, led by Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and comprising Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb, resumed hearing the PML-N supreme leader’s appeal against his conviction in a courtroom crowded with the party leaders, lawyers and workers.
Islamabad Accountability Court-II judge Arshad Malik on December 24, 2018 convicted Nawaz in Al-Azizia case, sentencing him to seven years in prison while imposing on him a fine of $2.5 million. The same judge had acquitted the former PM in the Flagship case. The accountability judge had, however, become controversial after the emergence of some videos in July 2019 in which he could be seen allegedly confessing to a PML-N leader that he convicted Nawaz “under duress.”
A Supreme Court bench, hearing petitions filed in the wake of the video scandal, had in August 2019 ordered action against Malik and a disciplinary committee of the Lahore High Court (LHC) had in July 2020 sacked the judge in view of misconduct. However, interestingly, Nawaz’s counsels, who had earlier filed civil miscellaneous applications in the IHC seeking acquittal of the PML-N leader in the Al-Azizia case in view of the video scandal, announced on Thursday that Nawaz did not want to press his application due to Malik’s demise.
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Earlier, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) prosecutor highlighted that Nawaz’s counsel was giving arguments on the merits of the case despite the fact that the former premier had filed some applications in the court with regard to alleged misconduct of Judge Malik. “The court should take up these applications [with regard to the accountability judge]. However, if they [PML-N] want the case to be heard on merit then they should withdraw the applications.”
Responding to the objection, Nawaz’s lead counsel, Amjad Pervaiz, told the bench that “We will not pursue our applications regarding the video scandal, as Judge Arshad Malik has passed away. We are not pursuing these requests anymore." Justice Aurangzeb noted that if the judge's conduct was improper at the time of the case's decision then it would have implications for this case. “If you pursue the application, then we will look into it. Arshad Malik is no more but the rest of the people are still present,'" he added.
Nawaz’s counsel, however, reiterated that they did not want to press the application now. Justice Farooq stated that in view of the Supreme Court's order in Arshad Malik’s case, the IHC has two options. ”We can decide the case on merit and we can also remand the case back to some accountability court,” he said.
While NAB requested the court to remand the case back to a trial court, Nawaz’s lead counsel Amjad Pervaiz requested the IHC bench to decide the case on merit. “The same court [IHC] has already decided two of the three NAB references [filed against the PML-N supreme leader in the wake of a July 2017 order of the Supreme Court],” he said.
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Last week, on November 29, the same bench acquitted Nawaz in the Avenfield corruption reference, a case in which Nawaz Sharif was convicted by an accountability court in July 2018. The court had also accepted NAB’s request to withdraw its appeal against the accountability court’s order to acquit Nawaz in the Flagship reference.
Justice Aurangzeb noted that if the case is sent back for retrial, Nawaz Sharif will not be considered a convict. “The trial court will have to decide on the case again. If NAB follows the same approach, then you won't have any issue. Why are you worried then?" he said.
Another of Nawaz’s counsel, Azam Nazir Tarar, requested the IHC to decide the appeal on merit.
After hearing the arguments, the court rejected NAB’s plea to remand the Al Azizia case back to an accountability court and announced hearing the case on merit. Arguments Giving argument, Amjad Pervaiz said Al-Azizia Company was registered in 2001, whereas Hill Metal was registered in 2005 while Nawaz Sharif was in exile in Saudi Arabia.
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“No documentary evidence was presented [in the accountability court] to establish Nawaz Sharif's connection with these companies. The entire case of NAB was to prove Nawaz Sharif's ownership of these companies. “The shareholders of these companies were Hussain Nawaz Sharif, Abbas Sharif, and a woman.
Nawaz Sharif's stance was that Al-Azizia was established by his father, Mian Sharif, and that he had no association with the company at any point,” he said. The lawyers argued that the head of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) formed by the Supreme Court of Pakistan to probe Nawaz's assets in the wake of the Panama Papers scandal had acknowledged that there was no documentary evidence to link Nawaz Sharif with Al-Azizia Steel Mills.
Referring to a judgement of the Lahore High Court (LHC), he said the LHC has stated that a case regarding assets beyond means can only be entertained when there is a comparison available between the income and assets of an individual. “However, NAB could never offer this comparison,” he added. The court adjourned after the conclusion of arguments by PML-N counsels. At the next hearing of the case, on December 12, NAB will present its arguments.
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