Big relief for Nawaz Sharif, Islamabad High Court acquitted him in Avenfield reference

The Islamabad High Court has acquitted Nawaz Sharif in the Avenfield reference. The accountability court sentenced Nawaz Sharif to ten years. A hearing was held in the Islamabad High Court on Nawaz Sharif’s appeal against the sentence in the Avenfield and Al-Azizia reference.

Islamabad High Court Chief Justice Amir Farooq and Justice Mian Gul Hasan Aurangzeb conducted the hearing. Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif appeared in the court along with the legal team, among them Azam Nazir Tarar, Amjad Parvez and others were present. NAB prosecution team was also present in the court room.

Nawaz Sharif’s lawyer Amjad Pervez opened the arguments and said that Nawaz Sharif’s co-accused Maryam Nawaz and Captain Retired Safdar were acquitted after accepting the appeal. The decision of acquittal has become final.

Amjad Pervez read various clauses of NAB Ordinance and said that the word Benamidar has been defined in NAB Ordinance.

Justice Mian Gul Hasan Aurangzeb said that in my opinion, the suspension of sentence was also done on the same basis. Please support us.

During the hearing, NAB appealed against the acquittal of Nawaz Sharif in the flagship reference and appealed to increase the sentence of Nawaz Sharif in the Al-Azizia reference.

Nawaz Sharif’s lawyer Amjad Parvaiz said in arguments that the Supreme Court has interpreted in its decisions related to benami, crime of assistance and dependents, after the investigation of assets in excess of income, the stage of property value comes, known sources. Income is compared to the value of the property, not all the requirements to prove the offense of 9A5 have been met, not even one element to prove the offense has been proved in this case.

The court inquired whether it is written in the reference that when did Nawaz Sharif buy these properties? On this, the lawyer said that there is no history in the reference, nor is there any evidence of Nawaz Sharif’s ownership, along with the declared income, what was the value of the assets at the time of creation? NAB had to present a comparison regarding the income and the value of the assets, after that it had to come out whether the value of the assets is more than the income or not and without this comparative assessment, it is not a crime to make assets more than the income. .

The lawyer said that these properties were built between 1993 and 1996, it is not written anywhere in the reference that on which date these properties were sent, there is nothing in the reference, Panama verdict, JIT report, NAB investigation report, Prove Nawaz Sharif’s connection with properties, Wajid Zia himself admitted that there is no evidence to prove Nawaz Sharif’s connection with properties.

Amjad Pervaiz said that the most important thing is the question of ownership of these properties, there is neither oral nor documentary evidence that these properties were ever owned by Nawaz Sharif, the prosecution had to prove that Maryam Nawaz, Hussain Nawaz and Hasan Nawaz was sponsored by Nawaz Sharif, there is no proof of the children being sponsored by Nawaz Sharif, all these things have to be proved by the prosecution, the burden of proof of these things is never transferred to the defense, there is no proof. That the properties remain in the ownership or custody of Nawaz Sharif.

The Chief Justice asked that this is all the work of the prosecution? On this, the lawyer said that yes, all this has to be proved by the prosecution.

Amjad Parvez Advocate said that NAB had to prove that Nawaz Sharif paid for the purchase of properties, also had to prove that the property was owned by him or a benamidar. I wrote a general statement instead of evidence, the court said that Maryam Nawaz was the beneficial owner and was also a dependent of Nawaz Sharif.

The lawyer said that the Lahore High Court acquitted one of the accused former Intelligence Bureau chief of NAB, Brigadier Retired Imtiaz, on the basis that NAB had acquitted him without determining the value of the alleged properties and the income of the accused. had filed a reference, the Supreme Court also upheld this decision, the Supreme Court did not give any contradictory decision in this regard, in the case of Maryam Nawaz, the Islamabad High Court also confirmed these judicial decisions and principles.

Nawaz Sharif’s lawyer said that the court says that the children are generally under the custody of the father and the court only sentenced the father to be responsible for the property in the name of the children.

Justice Mian Gul Hasan Aurangzeb said that we have recently given a decision that 4 elements must be proved for benami, if even one of these four is not proved, then he will not be in the category of benami.

Advocate Amjad Pervez Advocate said that why are you taking my exam, the Chief Justice said that it is necessary, isn’t it, the Chief Justice’s remarks were met with laughter.

Later, Amjad Parvez Advocate read out the acquittal decision of Maryam Nawaz from the High Court and said that the Islamabad High Court had acquitted Maryam Nawaz by declaring the decision of the accountability court null and void, the court wrote to prove the position of the prosecution. There is no single document for this.

The NAB prosecutor said that the references were filed due to the Supreme Court’s decision.

Justice Mian Gul Hasan Aurangzeb said, “Are you trying to say that it was your compulsion to file the reference?” We understand that filing the reference was the compulsion of NAB, the reference was filed and the punishment was also done.

The NAB prosecutor said that NAB did not appeal against the acquittal decision of Maryam Nawaz at that time, now that decision is final, we cannot argue on it, so the court said to approve it then?

Meanwhile, significant progress has been made in the flagship reference, NAB withdrew the appeal against the acquittal of Nawaz Sharif in the flagship reference, the court dismissed the appeal on the grounds of withdrawal. The accountability court had acquitted Nawaz Sharif in the flagship reference against which NAB had approached the court.

Later, the Islamabad High Court accepted the appeal against Nawaz Sharif’s sentence in the Avenfield reference, annulled the punishment given by the accountability court and acquitted him from the case. Nawaz Sharif was sentenced to ten years by the NAB court. .