NAB Challenges Hearing of Nawaz, Maryam's Sentence Suspension Plea

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Saturday moved to Supreme Court’s door in an effort to keep the Islamabad High Court (IHC) from ruling on an application from the Nawaz family seeking the suspension of the Avenfield verdict.

Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law retired Captain Mohammad Safdar had moved the IHC to suspend the verdict in the Avenfields properties reference after they were convicted by Accountability Court Judge Mohammad Bashir on July 6, 2018.The accountability court had sentenced Nawaz to 10 years in prison, Maryam to seven years and handed a one-year sentence to Captain Safdar.

According to a petition submitted in court by NAB Chairman Javed Iqbal, the high court did not send NAB a notice before accepting the Sharif family’s petition for hearing.

“The high court cannot rule on the Sharif family’s petition without listening to NAB’s perspective,” the petition said.

Furthermore, the NAB chief said in his petition that ruling on the suspension application is not in the high court’s jurisdiction and thus the IHC should be stopped from hearing the petition at all.