ISLAMABAD: Accountability Court of Islamabad Judge Arshad Malik categorically rejected allegations of any pressure against anyone during the trial of Nawaz Sharif in the various references filed by National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
In a press release issued by Judge Arshad Malik, he stated: “I didn’t have any pressure directly or indirectly during the case against Nawaz Sharif”.
He alleged that he was offered bribe many times during the trial of the case, adding that representative of Nawaz Sharif gave him threats of dire consequences if he did not cooperate during the trial.
Arshad Malik said that he strictly rejected the threats poured in from the Sharif family and decided to be firm on truth and decided the case without any pressure and greed of bribe.
Arshad Malik said: “I gave the verdict keeping in mind justice, facts and evidence while I sentenced Nawaz Sharif in the Al-Azizia Reference and evicted him in the flagship reference.”
He also declared the video released by the Pakistan Muslim League –Nawaz (PML-N) as a “lie, fake and imaginary” and demanded legal action against the video.
The judge said that the PML-N press conference was conducted to make his verdict disputed and to get political gains.
The judge said: “I have seen the video issued by the PML-N leaders in the press conference and said that his talk was presented out of context and distorted heinously.”
He said that the video released by the PML-N was a conspiracy aimed at discrediting his institution, his personality and family.
Judge Arshad Malik has decided to write a letter to Chief Justice Islamabad High Court to initiate investigation into the video released by the PML-N.
The Judge said that he and the man appeared in the video Nasir Butt belong to Rawalpindi and He has old acquaintance with him.
PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz on yesterday came out with explosive claims regarding the trial that led to her father, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, being convicted and sentenced to prison, saying the entire judicial process was severely compromised.
At a press conference in Lahore alongside the top leadership of the PML-N, Maryam played a secretly recorded video that she claimed featured a conversation between Nasir Butt, a man she described as a loyal fan of her father, and Accountability Judge Arshad Malik, who had in December last year sentenced Nawaz to seven years in jail in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills corruption reference and acquitted him in the Flagship Investment case.
Maryam alleged that the judge had contacted Nasir and told him that he was feeling “guilt” and “having nightmares” after announcing the “unjust” verdict against Nawaz, so he invited Nasir for a meeting at his residence, where the video was recorded.
In the video, which she termed as “divine help” for her family, Maryam claimed that Judge Malik had pointed out the flaws in Nawaz’s corruption trial that he wanted to be conveyed to Nawaz’s lawyers. The judge acknowledged that he had been “blackmailed” and “pressured” into issuing a judgment against the PML-N supremo, Maryam claimed.
