Ex-Pak PM Sharif’s sentence suspended in Al-Azizia case; courts grant him bail in graft cases

ISLAMABAD/LAHORE: Pakistan’s Punjab provincial government on Tuesday suspended Nawaz Sharif’s seven-year sentence in the Al-Azizia case while two separate courts confirmed his bail in three different corruption cases, in a major legal relief to the former premier after his return from London following four years of self-exile.

For the first time since his return on Saturday, the 73-year-old three-time former prime minister and supremo of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Tuesday appeared before the Islamabad accountability court.

Sharif marked his attendance in the Accountability Court of Judge Muhammad Bashir, who had suspended his arrest orders in the Toshakhana case last week to facilitate his return to Pakistan.

The attendance was significant to show that he had surrendered before the court. He was allowed to leave after the judge witnessed his presence in the courtroom.

During the hearing, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) prosecutor contended that Sharif had surrendered, therefore, his arrest warrants should be cancelled.

“If the warrants are cancelled then the trial can move forward,” he said.

The judge subsequently confirmed Sharif’s bail in the case against surety bonds of Rs 1 million. The hearing of the case was adjourned till November 20.

The case is based on allegations that Sharif, former president Asif Ali Zardari and ex-prime minister Yusuf Raza Gilani received luxury vehicles and gifts from the Toshakhana.

In another major development, the caretaker government of Pakistan’s Punjab province on Tuesday suspended Sharif’s seven-year sentence in the Al-Azizia corruption case.

The Punjab caretaker government led by Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi is considered an extension of the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz government. The government’s decision came at the time when Sharif was appearing before the Islamabad High Court to seek bail in the Al-Azizia case.

“The former prime minister’s sentence has been suspended after the provincial cabinet’s approval. The decision has been taken in the light of a higher court that allowed the Punjab government to suspend Nawaz’s conviction in the Al-Azizia case on medical grounds,” the government said in a statement.

Sharif was convicted in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills corruption case and sentenced to seven years in jail in December 2018.

Delivering the verdict, the judge had said that there was concrete evidence against the former premier in the Al-Azizia case and that he was unable to give the trail of the money used to set up the Al-Azizia steel mills in Saudi Arabia by his family in 2001 and later on the Hill Metal Establishment also in Saudi Arabia.