Broadsheet case: UK Court of Justice exonerated us, says Nawaz

LONDON: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif has said that the UK’s High Court of Justice has exonerated him and his family after the court ruled that Avenfield apartments, owned by the Sharif family, cannot be attached in the litigation between the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and the Broadsheet LLC.

Nawaz Sharif said he was thankful to Allah that justice had prevailed and the London High Court made a clear order after the Broadsheet had approached the London High Court to get the four flats attached in the litigation between the NAB and the Broadsheet that has cost the NAB an estimated $50 million so far in legal costs and judgement.

Speaking to reporters outside his son's office in Stanhope House on Monday, Nawaz Sharif told reporters: "This is God's system that we are getting exonerated. The injustices against us have been answered by the High Court in the UK. We were hounded, to find out what we own, by the grace of God, there was nothing. They have found nothing."

Nawaz Sharif criticised the NAB for wasting tens of millions of pounds in precious taxpayer money by General Musharraf's military regime.

"Instead of finding anything against us, they (the Pakistan govt) have to pay $30 million (to the Broadsheet) in the UK and they have to pay more. Whose money is this, why was it wasted? Was it wasted just to find out what Nawaz Sharif and some other Pakistanis own? This money belongs to the poor people of Pakistan but now they will raise electricity prices and taxes to recover this payment."

The former premier claimed that the entire investigation against him and his family was a fraud and scam. He said what happened between the NAB-Broadsheet in London is an eye opener for the whole world to know what happened in the name of accountability. “The whole process was a fraud and a dishonest campaign against me.”

The former premier, who has been in London for over a year, said that cases should be registered against the NAB and anyone behind the NAB who brought this mess on Pakistan after losing case to the assets recovery firm Broadsheet.

He added: “The people responsible should get exemplary punishment. There should be an inquiry into who was behind this all because the money wasted belongs to the poor people of Pakistan.”