Islamabad (August 21, 2018): The names of former premier Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz s names were placed on the Exit Control List (ECL) on Tuesday after approval from the federal cabinet.
Earlier on Monday, while briefing the newsmen after maiden federal cabinet session, information Minister and Broadcasting Minister, Fawad Chaudhry said that government has decided to place Nawaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz and Captain Retired Safdar’s names on ECL.
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The cabinet also directed the law and interior ministries to implement red warrants against Nawaz’s sons, Hassan and Hussain, and former finance minister Ishaq Dar and bring them back to Pakistan, Chaudhry added.Information Minister said the law ministry has also been directed to contact the British government over the Avenfield properties.
“Avenfield properties belong to Pakistan,” the info minister said, referring to one of the corruption cases against the Sharif family in which Nawaz was sentenced to a total of 11 years in prison while his daughter Maryam was given eight years’ sentence by an accountability court earlier in July.
“Eliminating corruption is an important part of our [government’s] policy,” Chaudhry continued, adding that there will be no political appointments under PTI’s rule.
He said it has been decided that the process of accountability will be started from the Prime Minister and the cabinet members for which they will again declare their assets before the people of Pakistan.
Both Maryam and Sharif are currently serving a prison sentence in Adiala jail after they were convicted in a corruption reference regarding their Avenfield properties in London.
National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had proposed to include the names in ECL.
Earlier, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) suspended verdict in case pertaining to the Sharif family’s appeals challenging their conviction in the Avenfield reference by the accountability court.
A division bench of the IHC comprising Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb resumed hearing in the appeals and directed to fix the hearing after summer vacations.
It is to be mentioned here that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz and Captain Safdar were convicted and sentenced to prison in absentia for ten years, seven years and one year respectively, in Avenfield verdict that is likely to further disrupt an already chaotic campaign for national elections this month.
Maryam Nawaz and Captain (r) Safdar, who were candidates for the forthcoming general elections were also disqualified from contesting elections for 10 years each.
The sentence and a fine of 8 million pounds, or $10.6 million, came almost a year after Supreme Court removed Sharif from office and less than five months after the court barred him from holding office for life.
Nawaz Sharif was convicted under section 9(a)(5) of the NAB ordinance.
The case stemmed from the Panama Papers leak that disclosed expensive and undeclared property owned by the Sharif family in London.
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