ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) is scheduled to hear today (Monday) the appeals of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif against his convictions in the Al-Azizia and Avenfield corruption cases.
A division bench of the IHC led by Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and comprising Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb will hear the pleas. The top court had, on July 28, 2017, disqualified Nawaz Sharif as a lawmaker for hiding the salary that he was entitled to as a director at one of the companies owned by his sons in his nomination papers submitted ahead of the 2013 general elections.
The PML-N supremo was later also convicted in the Avenfield reference and the Al-Azizia reference respectively in July 2018 and December 2018. These references were filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on the orders of the Supreme Court. The former premier has filed appeals against his convictions in the IHC.
In October 2019, Nawaz Sharif, who was serving a jail term in Lahore, was given a rare permission to get medical treatment abroad. Later, the IHC dismissed his appeals after he failed to appear in the court.
These appeals were, however, resurrected on the request of Nawaz Sharif after he returned to the country last month, ending his four-year self-exile. At the last hearing, one of Nawaz’s lawyers, Azam Nazeer Tarar had apprised the court that the former premier’s legal team would present arguments in a sequence, beginning with the Avenfield case today.
