SC summons record of PPP leader in NAB case

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday raised questions over the decision of the Sindh High Court (SHC) removing the conviction and sentence awarded to PPP central leader Sharmeela Farooqi in a NAB case.

A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Umer Ata Bandial, comprising Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel and Justice Ayesha A Malik, heard the appeal filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against the decision of the Sindh High Court. The court directed the NAB to submit, on the next date of hearing, the complete record of the matter. During the hearing, Prosecutor NAB Sattar Awan submitted before the court that the NAB court in 2001, while convicting the accused, awarded five-year imprisonment and disqualified her for 21 years. He informed the court that despite her conviction by the NAB court and disqualification for holding any public office, Sharmeela Farooqi was inducted into the Sindh Government.

The NAB Prosecutor further informed the court that the anti-graft body had clarified to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), in writing, that the accused was not eligible for holding any public office but the accused had challenged the letter of NAB in Sindh High Court. The NAB Prosecutor submitted that the learned Sindh High Court, after hearing the matter, not only quashed the disqualification but also declared null and void her sentence as well.

Chief Justice, however, questioned that when the accused did not file an appeal against her conviction then how it could be quashed? Counsel for Sharmeela Farooqi, however, told the court that filing an appeal during the dictatorship regime was a futile exercise.

At this, the Chief Justice, while citing the plane high-jacking case, observed that the apex court had granted relief to former Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif in that matter. The Chief Justice recalled that Mian Nawaz Sharif had filed an appeal in the Supreme Court a long time after his conviction, giving reasons that remaining abroad for a long time, he could not file a timely appeal against his conviction.

The court, after accepting his appeal, had declared his sentence null and void”, the Chief Justice said, adding that the court had also accepted the stance of Mian Nawaz Sharif that he was banned to return to the country.