Al-Azizia corruption reference: Is Nawaz going to jail again?

News Desk |

Ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday submitted his responses to 45 of 50 questions posed to him by the court in the Al-Azizia corruption reference.

When Nawaz approached the rostrum to verbally record his testimony, Accountability Judge Mohammad Arshad Malik asked him to return to his seat and informed Nawaz that he himself would read the statement out in court for it to be recorded.

Nawaz’s sons, Hussain and Hasan have been declared proclaimed offenders for not appearing before the court.

The PML-N supreme leader told the court he would need time to consult his lawyer Khawaja Haris before he could provide responses to the five unanswered questions posed by investigators. “Some questions are complicated and records will need to be checked [before they can be answered],” Nawaz told the court.

The accountability court on July 6 had announced the verdict in the Avenfield properties corruption reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau, handing the jail time of 10 years to ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif 7 years to Maryam Nawaz and 1 year to Safdar.

Read more: Al Azizia Reference: Prosecution witnesses record statements against Sharif

But all three were released from Adiala Jail after Islamabad High Court suspended their sentences they had received from the court. Currently, the court is running the two references simultaneously, and twin-verdict will be announced in both references.

So far, five extensions in the deadline have been given in the original six-month deadline to conclude the case, since, the start of the trial against ‘Sharif Clan ‘on September 14, 2017, after the disqualification of Nawaz Sharif on July 28, 2017

On August 27, CJP headed a three-judge bench comprising of Justice Umar Ata Bandial and Justice Ijazul Ahsan—which ordered a six-week extension in the deadline for concluding the Al-Azizia and Flagship Investment references.

Read more: What if Nawaz is convicted?

Nawaz’s sons, Hussain and Hasan have been declared proclaimed offenders for not appearing before the court.