Lahore (August 04, 2018): Chief justice of the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Saturday formed a full bench to hear a petition seeking the revocation of the punishment handed to the Sharif family members in the Avenfield properties’ corruption reference.
On July 6, an accountability court had awarded a 10-year prison sentence to former PM Nawaz Sharif for owning assets beyond known income. His daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Captain retired Captain Safdar were also handed seven and one-year sentences respectively.
The convictions, delivered under the National Accountability Ordinance 1999, were subsequently challenged in the LHC by senior lawyer AK Dogar, who contends that the ordinance was promulgated by former president retired Gen Pervez Musharraf under Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) No 1 of 1999 as well as order No 9 of 1999.
The petitioner pleads that the former prime minister and others were convicted by a court which has no jurisdiction because the law under which it (court) has been created is a dead law.
He further states that the high court should suspend the operation of the accountability court’s judgment for being a court established under a non-existent law.
The LHC chief justice today formed a full, three-member bench comprising Justice Shams Mehmood Mirza, Justice Sajid Mehmood Sethi and Justice Mujahid Mustaqeem.
The hearing on Dogar’s petition will take place on August 8.
Earlier on late Friday night, the government approached Interpol for issuing red warrants against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s sons Hasan and Hussain.
The decision after NAB Chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal had asked the interior ministry to initiate the process of bringing back former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s sons who have living in London to take care of their ailing mother Kulsoom Nawaz.
Click Play Button To Watch This Video
An accountability court has already declared Hasan and Hussain Nawaz proclaimed offenders (POs) in corruption references against them.
According to sources, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has submitted an application to the Interpol headquarters in France with the request to issue red warrant of Hasan and Hussain Nawaz.
The application submitted through the FIA headquarters states that Hasan and Hussain are wanted in Pakistan in corruption references and court has already issued permanent arrest warrants against them.
Previously, the court had issued directions for separate trials of Hasan and Hussain after they failed to appear before the court despite repeated orders to face the references in line with the Supreme Court’s direction in the Panama Papers case.
Earlier, while separating the trial of Hasan and Hussain from others and declaring them as absconders, the court had ordered to initiate proceedings against them under Section 87 (proclamation for person absconding) of the Criminal Procedure Code.
Related News:
