The top court on Tuesday said the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had spoiled the country’s jurisprudence by suspending an accountability court’s verdict in the Avenfield reference case against former premier #NawazSharif and his family members.
“We have no other option but to suspend the IHC ruling,” remarked Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian #SaqibNisar.
Nisar questioned how the IHC could say there were ‘defects’ in the accountability court’s verdict. Nawaz’s counsel, Khawaja Haris responded saying the accountability court did not mention the value of the property in question.
“If the value was not known then how could it declare that the assets were beyond the known sources of income?” Haris said.
To this, the CJP said that it was the respondent’s duty to explain that the apartments were not bought beyond known sources of income. Nisar also wondered why the Panamagate case was referred to an accountability court and not the Supreme Court for a final ruling.
The bench asked Haris to give written formulations in this case and the hearing was adjourned until November 12.
In September, IHC suspended sentences against Nawaz, his daughter #MaryamNawaz and son-in-law retired captain Mohammad Safdar and they were released on bail from Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail.
A division bench comprising Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb also allowed petitions filed by the Sharif family members against the accountability court’s July 6 verdict in Avenfield reference case which found them guilty of corruption and sentenced them to imprisonment and fines
“The instant writ petition is allowed and sentence awarded to the petitioners by the accountability court shall remain suspended till the final adjudication of the appeal filed by the petitioner,” read the judgment. “The petitioner shall be released on bail subject to furnishing bail bonds in the sum of Rs500,000 with one surety in the amount to the satisfaction of deputy registrar of the high court.”
The order allowed the release of Nawaz, Maryam and Captain Safdar after submission of Rs0.5 million bonds each. They had been in prison since July 13.
In the July 6 decision, Accountability Judge Muhammad Bashir had sentenced Nawaz to 10 years rigorous imprisonment (RI), Maryam to seven years RI and Safdar to one-year (RI). The accused were also disqualified to contest elections or to hold public office for a period of 10 years after release.
Following the accountability court’s judgment in the Avenfield reference, the Sharifs’ filed separate petitions through counsel Khawaja Haris and Amjad Pervaiz requesting the high court to suspend sentences and set aside the verdict.
The petitions moved the onus of proof from the accused to the prosecution. In the course of court proceedings, the IHC mulled whether the conviction can be based on presumption as NAB continued to raise objections over the maintainability of the petitions.
The anti-graft watchdog also moved the Supreme Court to block the Avenfie
