SC admits NAB plea against Sharifs’ sentence dismissal

The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Monday admitted the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) plea for hearing over the suspension of the prison sentences of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz in the Avenfield corruption reference.

A three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar and comprising Justice Mushir Alam and Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel, was conducting preliminary hearing of the case plea.

Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar hinted at forming a larger bench to decide a ‘question of law’ regarding the Islamabad High Court’s verdict suspending the accountability court order against the Sharifs. The move was proposed in an effort to determine the definition of “deeper appreciation of evidence”. The bench ordered that the defendants’ bail in the case would be maintained while the NAB plea against the matter of the suspension of the sentences would be heard separately.

On July 6, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam, and son-in-law Capt (retd) Safdar were awarded 10 years, seven years, and one year imprisonment, respectively, in the Avenfield apartments corruption reference. However, on Sept 19, the Islamabad High Court suspended their sentences and gave a detailed judgment on the petitions filed by the Sharifs.

The next hearing of NAB’s appeal against the IHC’s suspension of the sentences will take place on December 12, 2018.

Earlier in September, the IHC suspended the sentence of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Safdar. The Sharif family members were imprisoned following the accountability court’s July 6 verdict in Avenfield reference case.