UK court order over Avenfield flats vindicated Sharifs stance: Hussain

LONDON: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s son Hussain Nawaz Sharif has claimed that the fact that UK High Court of Justice did not entertain the application of Broadsheet for the attachment of the Avenfield flats is vindication of the Sharif family’s stance that they have never done anything illegal and their assets are clean.

Speaking to the media here, Hussain Nawaz said that the assets recovery firm Broadsheet had argued in the London High Court that the four Avenfield apartments belonged to the government of Pakistan because accountability court Judge Muhammad Bashir had ruled so in the case in which former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was convicted in a case of assets beyond means. “When the matter went to the court, nothing worthwhile was found in the claim. It was established that the claim was not genuine. If the court had found any illegality in any jurisdiction or attached the flats as sought by Broadsheet, Imran Khan and his colleagues would have made a big hue and cry about it that “look, the court has decided and the Sharif family has been caught” but Almighty Allah is kind and He preserves the respect and dignity of people,” he added.

He said that Broadsheet’s main target was the Sharif family. “There were other individuals in the list of targets too but it’s a well-known fact that the prime target was Nawaz Sharif and his family.

Alhamdullilah, the London High Court has found that we have committed no violation of rules. It’s been 20 years that they have been on our case but haven’t been able to find anything against the Sharifs. The NAB and Broadsheet had signed the contract solely to target the Sharifs but then started fighting with each other and Broadsheet sued the NAB and the government of Pakistan in London,”

he claimed.

He said the NAB has lost millions of dollars to Broadsheet “while pursuing us and finding nothing. This amount is much more than the total value of our assets”.

Hussain said that when Broadsheet went to the London High Court against the Sharif family around two years ago, lawyers for the family and Broadsheet exchanged evidence and communicated with each other. “Our lawyers said from day one that the matter would not go further as it doesn’t have weight. The same is the issue in all cases against us.”

Hussain said: “The Iqama decision was made and then the late Judge Arshad Malik was blackmailed to convict Nawaz Sharif. Now the reality of the case against the Sharif family in London has been exposed too. We were vindicated at Interpol too when the government approached authorities there because there is nothing in the politically-motivated cases against us.”

He said that opponents had been making tall claims about alleged corruption but when it came to providing evidence at independent courts they failed and that is what happened in the London High Court. “Our opponents keep lying and making allegations but when it comes to evidence they don’t have anything,” he added.