ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Saturday moved the Supreme Court (SC) against the Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) order transferring the Al-Azizia and Flagship Investment references against former premier Nawaz Sharif and his family to another accountability court.
On August 7, a two-member bench of the IHC, comprising Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb, ordered transfer of the cases from the court of Accountability Judge-I Muhammad Bashir to Accountability Court-II Judge Muhammad Arshad Malik.
NAB moved the SC against the IHC’s decision, making the former premier and Judge Muhammad Bashir respondents in the petition.
In its petition, NAB stated that after the judgement in the Avenfield reference the two remaining cases were under trial in Judge Bashir’s court. It added that the IHC’s order for transfer of the remaining two cases cannot be maintained.
NAB is an affected party of IHC’s decision and Judge Muhammad Bashir should be allowed to continue hearing the two remaining cases against Nawaz and his family, the petition further said.
On July 6, an accountability court had sentenced Nawaz to a total of 11 years in prison and slapped a £8 million fine (Rs1.3 billion) in the corruption reference, while his daughter Maryam was sentenced to eight years with a £2 million fine (Rs335 million). Nawaz’s son-in-law Capt (r) Safdar was also given a one-year sentence without any fine.