In a major development, the PML-N government has decided to challenge former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s sentence in the Avenfield reference.
According to the details, a session of the party, chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, has decided to challenge the sentence of Nawaz Sharif in accountability reference in the IHC after the acquittal of Maryam Nawaz by the Islamabad High Court (IHC).
In September, the IHC acquitted PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz Sharif and her husband Captain (retd) Safdar in the Avenfield reference. Maryam Nawaz had filed an appeal against her seven years imprisonment sentence in the case.
Read more: Victory for PML-N as Maryam Nawaz, Capt Safdar acquitted in Avenfield case
Shortly after her acquittal, Maryam Nawaz left for London. She is expected to return from London before the arrival of the PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif whose return will be announced in a statement from London.
The PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif had left for London in November 2019 following his illness as then prime minister Imran Khan had permitted him to go abroad for medical treatment. He has not returned since.
Avenfield reference
An accountability court on July 6, 2018, sentenced Nawaz Sharif to 10 years in prison and imposed a fine of £8 million in the Avenfield properties case. The court also handed out seven-year imprisonment to Maryam Nawaz and fined her £2 million whereas her husband Safdar was awarded a one-year jail term.
Nawaz Sharif was convicted under NAO 1999 9(a)(v): “A holder of a public office, or any other person, is said to commit or to have committed the offense of corruption and corrupt practices […] if he or any of his dependents or benamidar owns, possesses, or has acquired right or title in any assets or holds irrevocable power of attorney in respect of any assets or pecuniary resources disproportionate to his known sources of income, which he cannot reasonably account for or maintains a standard of living beyond that which is commensurate with his sources of income.”
Read more: Sharif’s challenge Avenfield reference verdict in IHC, highlight technical flaws