Pak Punjab government suspends ex-PM Nawaz Sharif’s sentence in corruption case

Pakistan’s Punjab provincial government on Tuesday suspended Nawaz Sharif’s seven-year sentence in the Al-Azizia case.

While two separate courts confirmed his bail in three different corruption cases. This marked a major legal relief to the former premier after his return from London following four years of self-exile.

For the first time since his return on Saturday (October 21), the 73-year-old three-time former Prime Minister and supremo of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Tuesday appeared before an Islamabad accountability court.

Sharif marked his attendance in the Accountability Court of Judge Muhammad Bashir, who had suspended his arrest orders in the Toshakhana case last week to facilitate his return to Pakistan.

The attendance was significant to show that he had surrendered before the court. He was allowed to leave after the judge witnessed his presence in the courtroom.

During the hearing, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) prosecutor contended that Sharif had surrendered and therefore, his arrest warrants should be cancelled. “If the warrants are cancelled, the trial can move forward,” he said.

The judge subsequently confirmed Sharif’s bail in the case against surety bonds of Rs 1 million. The hearing of the case was adjourned till November 20.

The case is based on allegations that Sharif, former President Asif Ali Zardari and former Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani received luxury vehicles and gifts from the Toshakhana.

In another major development, the caretaker government of Pakistan’s Punjab province on Tuesday suspended Sharif’s seven-year sentence in the Al-Azizia corruption case. The Punjab caretaker government led by Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi is considered an extension of the PML-N government.

The government’s decision came at the time when Sharif was appearing before the Islamabad High Court to seek bail in the Al-Azizia case.

“The former Prime Minister’s sentence has been suspended after the provincial cabinet’s approval. The decision has been taken in the light of a higher court that allowed the Punjab government to suspend Nawaz’s conviction in the Al-Azizia case on medical grounds,” the government said in a statement.

Sharif was convicted in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills corruption case and sentenced to seven years in jail in December 2018.

Delivering the verdict, the judge had said that there was concrete evidence against the former premier in the Al-Azizia case and that he was unable to give the trail of the money used to set up the Al-Azizia steel mills in Saudi Arabia by his family in 2001, and later on the Hill Metal Establishment, also in Saudi Arabia.

Meanwhile, the Islamabad High Court on Tuesday extended Sharif’s protective bail in Avenfield and Al-Azizia corruption cases till October 26, after the NAB said it had “no objections” to the plea filed by the deposed Prime Minister, who wants to clear his name to contest the general elections expected in January.

A division bench, comprising Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb, issued the order on Sharif’s petitions seeking protective bail in the cases and restoration of his appeals against his conviction.

Sharif was present in the courtroom along with his brother and former premier Shehbaz Sharif and several party leaders. His presence was equal to his surrender to the court which had declared him a fugitive for failing to appeal despite several warnings.

A large number of his supporters gathered outside the court building, throwing rose petals on his car as he arrived amid tight security.

Ahead of Sharif’s arrival on October 21, his legal team had approached the Islamabad High Court, which granted him a protective bail until October 24 in the Avenfield and Al-Azizia corruption cases.

The court cases, which stopped due to his absence, have resumed after his arrival.

Sharif was also convicted in July 2018 by an accountability court in the Avenfield properties case and sentenced to 10 years in jail. He was arrested and put in jail but set free after being given bail while his appeals against acquittal in the case were pending.

His daughter Maryam Nawaz was also sentenced to seven years in jail in the case but was acquitted in September last year along with her husband Muhammad Safdar.

The Islamabad High Court declared him a proclaimed offender in both cases in December 2020.

Earlier on Tuesday, Sharif’s counsel Qazi Misbah in the Toshakhana case filed three different applications in the accountability court, which include the restoration of the PML-N supremo’s annexed property in the case; appointment of Sharif’s pleader in the case; and an application to submit the politician’s bail bonds.

Sharif was disqualified in 2017 and later in 2018 convicted in the two cases of corruption. He has always denied allegations of any wrongdoing and termed his conviction orchestrated by the powerful establishment in collusion with the judiciary.