Islamabad (December 04, 2017): The Islamabad High Court rejected former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s plea seeking to club together all references filed by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against him and his family today.
A division bench of IHC comprising Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani had reserved its verdict on the PML-N chief plea.
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The court announced its verdict today, rejecting the plea to club together all the references and hold single trial.
The court had reserved its verdict on November 23. Nawaz is facing three corruption references in the accountability court filed by NAB in light of the Supreme Court’s July 28 verdict in the Panama Papers case which led to his disqualification.
The accountability court on November 8 had again dismissed Nawaz’s plea seeking the clubbing of three references into one, which was later challenged in the IHC.
At the hearing on November 20, Nawaz’s lawyer had pointed out similarities between the Azizia Steel Mills and Flagship Investment references, pleading that they be combined.
Nawaz’s counsel Azam Nazir Tarar had argued before the two-member bench that the accountability court had noted the similarities between the references.
Earlier in the morning, the accountability court adjourned hearing of the references without any proceeding till 1:00pm after Nawaz counsel requested the court to suspend proceeding till the announcement.
The court suspended the hearing into corruption references after it was informed the Islamabad High Court is scheduled to announce its verdict today on the petition filed by ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif, which seeks the consolidation of the references.
The high court’s decision is expected to be announced in the afternoon today. The hearing at the accountability court will resume after the decision is announced.
Earlier today, Nawaz, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law retired Captain Mohammad Safdar had arrived at the accountability court after landing at Islamabad airport. The former premier was welcomed at the court by a large number of PML-N workers.
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