Accountability reference: Sharifs’ cases won’t be re-opened

Justice Sardar Shamim, observed that the references were politically motivated and could not be re-opened.

LAHORE: A Lahore High Court judge on Friday rejected the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) petition seeking the re-opening of corruption references against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and some of his relatives. Justice Sardar Shamim, the referee judge, observed that the references were politically motivated and could not be re-opened after a period of more than 12 years. He was appointed the referee judge after Justice Sheikh Najamul Hassan’s refusal to act in the capacity. Then-LHC Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial had asked Justice Hassan to decide a dissenting observation made by Justice Khawaja Imtiaz Ahmad of the Rawalpindi division bench in a petition filed challenging an accountability court’s dismissal of NAB requests for reopening of the corruption cases against Sharif and his relatives.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 7^th, 2015.