The Islamabad High Court has decided to hear the appeal on the merits of the Al-Azizia reference against former Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif.
In the Islamabad High Court, Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Mian Gul Hassan are currently hearing the appeal against the Al-Azizia Steel Mills reference and the sentence of Nawaz Sharif. The hearing is also underway on the NAB appeal to increase Nawaz Sharif’s sentence in the Al-Azizia reference.
Nawaz Sharif’s lawyer Amjad Parvez advocate and NAB prosecutors also appeared in the court.
Nawaz Sharif’s lawyer, Amjad Parvez, stated that NAB filed references in violation of the Supreme Court’s orders, where similar allegations were made. In the Flagship reference, the accountability court had acquitted Nawaz Sharif, but separate references were filed on the same charge. We had requested that only one reference should be filed for each allegation. The court had previously mentioned that the trials were separate, but the decision would be pronounced together.
Amjad Parvez Advocate said that the court has to see whether the prosecution proved the charge in this case or not, to which the Chief Justice of Islamabad High Court said to tell what was the charge in this case?
Nawaz Sharif’s lawyer revealed that in this reference, there was an allegation of accumulating assets beyond known sources of income. There are 22 witnesses in this case, with the majority being witnesses related to records. Out of the 22, 13 witnesses presented only bank records, and they were not eyewitnesses. Five witnesses are related to the seizure memo, and two witnesses were individuals who went with call-up notices.
Lawyer Amjad Parvez stated that Al-Azizia Steel Mills was established in 2001, and the Hill Metal Establishment was built in 2005. When Al-Azizia Mills was set up, Hussain Nawaz was 28 years old, and at that time, Nawaz Sharif’s case is better than the previous one because he was not a public officeholder during this period.
The NAB prosecutor said that they are debating the merits, they also have some miscellaneous requests, either they withdraw their requests, to which Amjad Parvez Advocate said yes, there are requests related to the video of the judge.
