LAHORE: Lahore High Court’s (LHC) Justice Mehmood Mirza on Wednesday recused himself from hearing a petition against the Sharif family’s conviction in the Avenfield properties corruption case.
The judge was heading a three-member bench, which was constituted on August 4, to hear a petition filed by Sharif’s legal counsel AK Dogar seeking annulment of the punishment given in the case.
Mirza recused himself from the hearing, citing personal reasons.
The LHC chief justice has been informed of the decision.
Justice Sajid Mehmood Sethi and Justice Mujahid Mustaqeem were the other two members of the bench.
The Sharif’s were convicted under the National Accountability Ordinance 1999; however, the petition argued that implementation of the 18th amendment made the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) law invalid.
Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law captain (r) Muhammad Safdar were given sentences on July 6 by an accountability court in the Avenfield corruption reference. The former prime minister was sentenced to 11 years in prison and given a fine of Rs1.3 billion while his daughter was sentenced to eight years in prison with a Rs335 million fine.
Safdar was given a year-long sentence.