ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam, and his son-in-law Captain (retd) Safdar are set to remain behind bars until the highly-anticipated July 25 election, media reported.
The latest development comes as the Islamabad High Court (IHC) scheduled its next hearing in the appeal against the Avenfield Reference case ruling after the upcoming election. It also issued notices to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and summoned records from the case.
Further, the IHC also advised the NAB prosecutor and the investigative officer also appear in the last week of July.
Last week’s ruling
Last week, an accountability court in Islamabad sentenced the former three-time premier to a total of 11 years in prison and slapped a £8-million fine (Rs1.3-billion) for “owning assets disproportionate to known sources of income”.
His daughter, Maryam, on the other hand, was sentenced to eight years, with a £2-million fine (Rs335-million), while her husband, Captain (retd) Safdar, was handed a one-year prison sentence.
Sharif’s sons, Hassan and Hussain, have been absconding and declared ‘proclaimed offenders’ in the case.
Maryam, Safdar barred from elections
Following the verdict, Maryam and Safdar, her husband, stand barred from contesting the July general election from Lahore and Mansehra, respectively.
According to the verdict, the ex-first daughter would be disqualified from holding public office for 10 years after her seven-year jail term concludes.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had stated that her name would be removed from the ballot papers of the NA-127 constituency, after which new ballot papers would be printed.
Sharif and his daughter were arrested last Friday night upon their arrival in Lahore, a week after being sentenced to prison in the Avenfield Properties case.
The father-daughter duo arrived in the city from Abu Dhabi at 8:50PM after their flight was delayed for over two hours. They had left London a day earlier.
Arrest
A NAB team took the two in custody from the aircraft, while officials of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) confiscated their passports.
Shortly afterwards, they were boarded on a special plane that took off for Islamabad. The flight landed at the new Islamabad International Airport at around 10:35PM, after which the two were taken to the Adiala Jail in separate armoured personnel carriers escorted by police convoys.
Earlier, the legal counsels of the Sharif family had filed three different appeals on behalf of their clients.
Khawaja Haris, Sharif’s counsel, had filed an appeal challenging the verdict against his client and requesting its suspension till IHC’s adjudication in the case.
Similarly, Amjad Pervaiz filed the appeals on behalf of Maryam and Safdar.
An additional appeal had also been filed, requesting the court to transfer the Al-Azizia and Flagship Investment references against Nawaz from the court of Accountability Judge-I Mohammad Bashir to another accountability court.
