Al-Azizia, Avenfield references: IHC upholds Nawaz sentences

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Thursday dismissed pleas filed by former prime minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif against the imprisonment sentences announced in Al Azizia Steel Mills and Avenfield apartments references.

A court division bench — comprising Justice Umar Farooq and Justice Mohsin Akhtar — issued a nine-page judgment that was earlier reserved after listening to arguments of the NAB prosecutor and amicus curiae.

The verdict means the judgments pronounced by the accountability court in the two cases have been upheld.

According to the IHC judgment, Nawaz is a proclaimed offender and so "there is no choice but to dismiss the pleas" owing to his continued disappearance from court.

The judgment states, "Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif was provided with a fair trial in as much as the learned trial court provided him with an opportunity of hearing as well as cross-examining the prosecution witnesses and only after the proper trial, his conviction was recorded; he despite being on bail, proceeded abroad and did not appear before this court and without any justification, remained absent on a number of dates”.

"Hence this court was left with no option but to follow the procedure as provided in Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 and declare him as fugitive from law.”

The judgment observed that if Nawaz returned or was caught by the authorities, an application for renewal of appeals could be filed. The former prime minister had filed appeals with the IHC against the decisions of the accountability court. Accountability court judge Mohammad Bashir had on July 6, 2018, convicted Nawaz in the Avenfield reference and sentenced him to 10 years in prison.

However, an IHC division bench — comprising Chief Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb — suspended the sentence in the reference and later granted him bail allowing him to travel abroad for medical treatment.

Meanwhile, Accountability Judge Mohammad Arshad Malik had on Dec 24, 2018 convicted Sharif in the Al Azizia reference and sentenced him to a seven-year imprisonment, besides imposing fines of Rs1.5 billion and $25 million.