Former Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif has been sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment and his daughter 7 years, as the judge Justice Bashir announced the verdict of Avenfield Reference after several delays.
Nawaz Sharif Son-in-law captain Safdar was sentenced to one-year imprisonment. Court has further fined Nawaz Sharif £8 million and his daughter Maryam Nawaz £2 million.
The court also ruled to confiscate the Avenfield properties.
Delayed Announcement of Avenfield Reference Verdict
Court had reserved its decision on Tuesday, July 1. It had given two days exemption to Ex-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz for appearing in court. And, also ordered them to be present in the court to hear the verdict.
Earlier, the verdict was supposed to be announced at 9:30 AM on Friday, but it was later delayed. On 11:00 AM Judge Muhammad Bashir rejected Nawaz Sharif’s plea to reject the verdict and told that Verdict will be announced on 12:30 AM. Then, the media reported that the verdict will be announced at 2:30 PM. But the court further pushed the verdict to 3:00 PM.
Avenfield Reference Background
Ex-Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif who was disqualified by Supreme Court of Pakistan, his daughter Maryam Nawaz, sons Hussain Nawas, Hassan Nawaz and son-in-law captain (Retd.) Safdar was facing the trial after NAB (National Accountability Bureau) filed four references in Supreme Court on 8th September 2017.
The references were related to Nawaz Sharif and family’s properties in Avenfield, Park Lane, United Kingdom, the establishment of Azizia Steel Company, Hill Metal Company Jeddah, Flagship Investment Limited and other 15 companies. Further, there was the fourth reference against Ex-Finance Minister of Pakistan Ishaq Dar for possessing assets with unknown sources of income.
The London properties that included the luxury flats were exposed by the famous Panama Papers that lead to hearing of months-long Panama case in Pakistani Supreme Court. The family had allegedly bought overseas property with illegitimate money. Sharif family has denied the allegations and labels all those cases as political victimization of the former ruling family.
Section 9 of NAB-Ordinance 1999
In all the four references NAB has called on Section 9 of NAB- Ordinance 1999 to deal with illegal money exchange etc.
