IHC clears Nawaz in the Al-Azizia case after Avenfield
IHC clears Nawaz in the Al-Azizia case after Avenfield
The Islamabad High Court( IHC) on Tuesday acquitted former high minister Nawaz Sharif in the Al- Azizia Steel Mills corruption reference and declared his judgment null and void.
A two- member IHC bench, comprising IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and IHC Justice Mian Gul Hassan Aurangzeb heard the case. The execution platoon of the public Responsibility Bureau( NAB), PML- N supremo Nawaz Sharif and his counsel Amjad Pervaiz were present in the courtroom.
At the onset of the hail, Nawaz’s counsel took to the stage and said he wanted to argue about Nawaz’s dependants. When Justice Farooq informed him that his arguments had been concluded, Pervaiz stated that he only wanted to argue on this single point.
The bench also inquired if NAB had proven anything regarding Nawaz’s dependents. The counsel said that Wajid Zia, a substantiation, had admitted that there was no substantiation connected to the PML- N leader’s dependants. He added that several verdicts are available on the description of benami cases and said the defence had also raised expostulation in front of the trial court.
He maintained that no single operation proved Nawaz was the proprietor of these means. He also reminded the court that the trial court had reckoned on a television interview of Nawaz’s son, Hussain Nawaz, indeed though he stated that the” matter didn’t concern Nawaz”.
Stating that the indicted is innocent until proven shamefaced and the onus lies on the execution to prove the charges.” The indicted can’t be forced to prove his innocence,” said Pervaiz.
He reiterated that the execution platoon couldn’t” present a single piece of substantiation, thus the burden of evidence can’t be transferred onto the indicted,” he said concluding his arguments.
The NAB prosecutor also took the stage and started by chronicling the sequence of events which led to Nawaz’s conviction.
Strict security arrangements were made in and around the court demesne and a heavy contingent of police was stationed. A large number ofpro-PML-N attorneys were also present within the court demesne while a large crowd of the party’s sympathizers were present outside the IHC demesne.
During the last hail, the IHC decided to hear the former high minister’s appeal against his conviction in the Al- Azizia Steel Mills case “ on merit ” as it rejected NAB’s prayer to remand the case back to a trial court.
Read IHC to decide Al- Azizia case ‘ on merit ’
Islamabad Responsibility Court- II judge Arshad Malik on December 24, 2018, condemned Nawaz in Al- Azizia case, condemning him to seven times in captivity while assessing on him a forfeiture of$2.5 million.
The same judge had acquitted the former PM in the Flagship case. The responsibility judge had, still, come controversial after the emergence of vids in July 2019 in which he could be seen allegedly confessing to a PML- N leader that he condemned Nawaz “ under constraint. ”
A apex court bench, hearing desires filed in the wake of the videotape reproach, had in August 2019 ordered action against Malik and a correctional commission of the Lahore High Court( LHC) had in July 2020 sacked the judge in view of misconduct.
still, interestingly, Nawaz’s counsels, who had before filed civil eclectic operations in the IHC seeking vindication of the PML- N leader in the Al- Azizia case in view of the videotape reproach, blazoned that Nawaz didn’t want to press his operation due to Malik’s demise.
On November 29, the same bench acquitted Nawaz in the Avenfield corruption reference, a case in which Nawaz Sharif was condemned by an responsibility court in July 2018. The court had also accepted NAB’s request to withdraw its appeal against the responsibility court’s order to acquit Nawaz in the Flagship reference.
