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LAHORE: Challenging the Islamabad High Court’s decision to exonerate PML-N vice president Maryam Nawaz Sharif and her husband Captain Safdar in the Avenfield flats case doesn’t seem to be a priority for the National Accountability Bureau.
On Thursday, the IHC overturned the verdicts and cleared Maryam Nawaz and her husband Mohammad Safdar of all charges.
NAB spokesperson Nadeem Khan said “The bureau is yet to receive a written copy of the order. We will decide whether to challenge it or not after getting the written order.” NAB spokesperson Nadeem Khan was quoted as saying in Daily Dawn.
“It appeared that the bureau did not ‘vigorously’ fight the case after the recent amendments to the NAB laws and as a result, the convicts managed to get the relief.” Dawn reported quoting a former NAB official. “The new NAB Chairman Aftab Sultan might decide to not challenge the IHC’s decision in the Supreme Court.”
The Sharif family was found guilty in the Avenfield apartment case on July 6, a few weeks before the 2018 elections, by the accountability judge of Islamabad, who was acting under the direction of an apex court judge.
The National Accountability Bureau sentenced former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to 10 years in prison for having assets over his known income and one year for refusing to cooperate (NAB). Maryam, meanwhile, received a 7-year sentence for aiding and abetting and a 1-year sentence for refusing to cooperate with the bureau after being deemed “helpful in concealing the properties of her father.”
Safdar received a one-year sentence in prison for his refusal to cooperate with the NAB and for helping Nawaz and Maryam.
The Sharif family had filed appeals against its conviction before the IHC in the second week of August 2018. The court had on Sep 18 the same year suspended their sentences and released them on bail.
