ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) will hear former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s appeal against his conviction in Al-Azizia case on Wednesday.
A two-member bench comprising Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kiyani and Justice Aamir Farooq will hear the former premier’s appeal.
Nawaz was convicted by former accountability judge Arshad Malik in Al-Azizia case in December last year that stemmed out of Panama Papers scandal. Nawaz was jailed for seven years and fined Rs5 billion in the light of the verdict.
However, things took an interesting turn when his daughter Maryam Nawaz released a video of the presiding judge, wherein he purportedly could be heard saying that he had acted under duress. However, the judge denied the charges in an affidavit issued in a rebuttal to the presser.
On the other hand, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had also requested the court to increase the sentence of former PM up to 14 years, saying that the former PM had failed to give money trail even though he “admitted to owning these assets”.
The SC had disqualified Nawaz from holding any public office in July 2017 and ordered NAB to file three references against the Sharif family.
The apex court had also constituted a six-member joint investigation team (JIT), comprising officials of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), NAB, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Military Intelligence (MI), Securities and Exchange Commission (SECP) and the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
Accountability judge Mohammad Bashir convicted Nawaz and Maryam in the Avenfield properties reference on July 6 last year. The IHC, however, suspended the sentence and released both of them on bail.
Maryam, now, is in NAB detention for her alleged involvement in a money laundering scandal.
