ISLAMABAD: Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has filed a petition in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) related to former accountability court judge Arshad Malik’s video scandal case.
A two-member bench comprising Justice Amir Farooq and Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kiyani will hear the appeals filed by the former prime minister and the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against the accountability court ruling.
In the former premier’s petition, he took the stance that the court included Accountability Court Judge Arshad Malik’s affidavit and press release as a part of the case.
Read Arshad Malik video case: FIA clears suspect Nasir Janjua
The petition stated five people should be made approvers INCLUDING Nasir Butt as well as British experts who prepared the forensic report of the video and audio.
Nawaz Sharif pleaded that the statements of the witnesses were also needed for the court to give a free and fair verdict regarding the main appeal in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills reference.
The plea further stated that the court heard the stance of one side while the other side’s stance was ignored. Nawaz Sharif requested the court to hear the other side’s statement regarding the case.
In the Al-Azizia corruption case in December 2018, the then accountability court judge Arshad Malik had sentenced Nawaz to seven years in prison and fined Rs1.5 billion and $25 million. Nawaz, who is currently serving his term in Kot Lakhpat Jail, filed an appeal against the conviction in the IHC.
In July, during a press conference in June, PML-N leader Maryan Nawaz showed videos in which Judge Malik told another person that he was pressured into convicting former PM Nawaz Sharif in the Al Azizia mills case. The judge, however, denied the allegations.
On 23rd August, the Supreme Court ruled that the final decision in the Judge Malik case rests with the Islamabad High Court. It can choose whether to reopen the Al-Azizia case or admit the video as evidence in Nawaz’s appeal against his sentence.
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