Islamabad HC Acquits Former Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif In 2 Corruption Cases

Sharif returned home from self-imposed exile in October after being granted permission to travel to London in 2019 to receive medical treatment while serving a 14-year prison sentence for corruption.

Former Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif

New Delhi: Islamabad High Court on Wednesday acquitted Pakistan's former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in two corruption cases in which he was convicted in 2018.

Sharif, who returned home from self-imposed exile in October, had challenged in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) his sentences in the Avenfield property and Al-Azizia cases.

The verdict was announced by a two-member bench comprising IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb on Nawaz’s appeal against his conviction in the case, reported Pakistan-based Dawn.

In July 2018, an accountability court sentenced the PML-N leader to 10 years in jail in the Avenfield properties corruption reference. The case pertains to assets beyond known income and one-year sentence for not cooperating with the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). The sentences were to be served concurrently, Dawn reported.

In the same year, the 73-year-old Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo was acquitted by a trial court in the Flagship corruption case but the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), the anti-corruption watchdog, had challenged his acquittal in the IHC.

He was sentenced in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills case to seven years in jail in December 2018.

After hearing arguments, the IHC on Wednesday acquitted Sharif in the Avenfield case while the NAB decided to withdraw its appeal in the Flagship case due to which his acquittal by the trial court was restored by the high court.

“I thank God as I had left the entire matter to him. God has made us victorious today," Sharif said while talking to reporters after the hearing, reported PTI

Sharif had challenged his sentences in the Avenfield property and Al-Azizia cases in the IHC. He had filed an appeal against both convictions.

Sharif went to London in 2019 and could not return and was declared a proclaimed offender in both cases in December 2020 by the IHC. He came back last month after nearly four years of self-exile and his appeals were revived.