Pakistan’s ex-PM Sharif again appears before court in remaining two graft cases

Pakistan’s imprisoned former prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday again appeared before an anti-corruption court in the remaining two graft cases against him and his family, a media report said.

The 68-year-old PML-N leader appeared before the court as accountability court II Judge Mohammad Arshad Malik resumed hearing of Al-Azizia and Flagship Investment cases, Geo news reported.

Sharif’s counsel Khawaja Harris cross-questioned Panamagate Joint Investigation Team (JIT) head and prosecution’s witness Wajid Zia, the report said.

Yesterday, the Supreme Court ordered the accountability court to conclude the remaining two corruption cases against deposed prime minister Sharif and his family within the next six weeks.

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Judge Malik had submitted a written request to the Supreme Court seeking an extension to conclude the Al-Azizia and Flagship Investment cases.

The court also directed accountability judge Malik to submit a progress report of the case to the apex court on a weekly basis.

Sharif, along with his daughter Maryam, 44 and son-in-law Capt (retd) Muhammad Safdar, 54, are already serving jail terms of 10-years, seven years and one year respectively in the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, after the accountability court convicted them on July 6 over the family’s ownership of four luxury flats in London through illegal means.

The pending corruption cases against Sharif and his two sons were transferred by the Islamabad High Court on August 7 on the application of Sharif to another accountability court headed by judge Malik.

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Three corruption cases were filed against Sharif and family last year following a decision by Supreme Court on July 28 of the same year.

Apart from Sharif, his two sons -Hassan and Hussian - are also co-accused in all the three corruption cases.

The court has declared Sharif’s sons as absconders due to their persistent failure to appear before it. They have been blacklisted, barring them from travelling on their Pakistani passports.