Rejection of bail plea by IHC: SC to hear Nawaz’s plea on 19th

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa will take up next week a petition filed by former prime minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif against the Islamabad High Court verdict, dismissing his bail application in Al- Azizia corruption reference. A three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa and comprising Justice Sajjad Ali Shah and Justice Yahya Afridi, will on March 19 hear his petition. An Islamabad High Court bench comprising Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani on February 25 had dismissed Nawaz’s petition seeking bail and suspension of his seven-year sentence on medical grounds. Nawaz was sentenced to seven years in prison and fined Rs1.5 billion and US$25 million in Al-Azizia corruption reference in a verdict by an accountability court on December 24, 2018. Nawaz, however, on March 1, 2019, filed a petition with the Supreme Court praying that the judgment of Islamabad High Court (IHC) be set aside. He had also filed an application requesting for early hearing of his plea however, the apex court had stated that it will be fixed at its own turn.