An Accountability Court on Monday sentenced former prime minister Nawaz Sharif to seven years in prison and fined Rs 1.5 billion and $25 million in the Al-Azizia Steel Mill Company Limited (ASCL) and Hill Metals Establishment (HME) reference. The court acquitted him in the Flagship Investments reference.
Accountability Court Judge Muhammad Arshad Malik while reading out a short order soon after Sharif arrived in the court said that there was concrete evidence against the former premier in the Al-Azizia reference, and that he was unable to provide a money trail in the case.
The court in its short order said that the court has convicted Sharif under section 9 (a) (v) and section 10 of National Accountability Ordinances (NAO) 1999.
According to the detail judgment Sharif has been manifestly unable to provide a reasonable expectation with regard to the sources of funds utilized for establishing ASCL and HME and related remittances, rather, as, a stratagem, a false, unsubstantiated and fabricated version was advanced which is not tangible in the eyes of law cannot be accepted.
The known source of income of Sharif and practically of his two sons who are co-accused but absconding at the time of setting up of ASCL in 2001 and HME in 2005-2006 are patently and grossly disproportionate to the reasonable (bare minimum) cost of setting up of ASCL and HME.
The judgment is consists of 131 pages.
Sharif has been sentenced to jail for seven years; and is liable to forfeit his properties. The short order said that the burden of proof in the Al-Azizia reference case lies with Sharif.
The judge in his order further said that there was not enough evidence to convict Sharif in the Flagship reference thus he has been acquitted. The court on December 19 had reserved its judgments in both the cases.
According to detailed order, the Al-Azizia reference was filed against accused - Nawaz Sharif, Hassan Nawaz, Hussain Nawaz - under 18(g) of NAO 1999 with other enabling provisions of the law.
The detailed order said that the prosecution has successfully established all the ingredients of the offence of corruption and corrupt practices against the accused - Sharif - as defined under section 9 (a) (v) of the NAO, 1999 with section 14 (c) thereof as per the charge framed for holding and being the true and real beneficial owner of the assets ASCL and HME and related remittances beyond his known sources of income as he failed to establish contrary thereto.
"As accused Sharif held guilty for the offence of corruption and corrupt practices and accordingly, I do hereby convict him under section 10 of the NAO, 1999 read with schedule thereto and consequent upon his conviction, having regard to the facts and circumstances of the case the convict is hereby sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for a term of seven years along with a fine of Rs 1.5 billion and US $ 25 million," said the order.
It also said that in terms of section 10 (a) of NAO all assets, properties, rights, receivables and interests of and in HME stand forfeited to the federal government which shall forthwith approach the government of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), so as to implement and give effect to the said forfeiture.
The order said that the accused Hassan and Hussain are absconding and have already been declared as proclaimed offenders. Perpetual non-bailable warrants of arrest be issued against them directing the NAB to enter their names in the relevant register of proclaimed offenders under intimation to this court.
The reference file with all of its documents evidence and material be kept intact till the absconding accused Hassan and Hussain appear themselves or are arrested and brought before this court to face the trial.
The Section 9(a)(v) of NAO 1999 says: "A holder of public office, or any other person, is said to commit or to have committed the offence of corruption and corrupt practices if he or any of his dependents or benamidar owns, possesses, or has [acquired] right or title in any ["assets or holds irrevocable power of attorney in respect of any assets] or pecuniary resources disproportionate to his known sources of income, which he cannot [reasonably] account for [or maintains a standard of living beyond that which is commensurate with his sources of income]."
While section 10 of NAO 1999 says: "A holder of public office, or any other person who commits the offence of corruption and corrupt practices shall be punishable with [rigorous] imprisonment for a term which may extend to 14 years [and with fine] and such of the assets and [pecuniary resources] of such [holder of public office or person, as are] found to be disproportionate to the known sources of his income or which [are] acquired by money obtained through corruption and corrupt practices whether in his name or in the name of any of his dependents.
As per the section 15 of NAO 1999, the convicted person shall be disqualified to contest election or to hold public office for a period of 10 years to be reckoned from the date he is released after serving the sentence and they shall not be allowed to apply for or to be granted or allowed any financial facilities in the form of loan, etc, for a period of 10 years from the date of their conviction.
The Al-Azizia and Flagship references were filed against Sharif and his son Hassan and Hussain Nawaz Sharif on September 8, 2017.
After the court order, the counsel for Sharif, Khawaja Haris requested that his client be shifted to Kot Lakhpat Jail in Lahore instead of Adiala Jail as he is a heart patient and is suffering from other multiple diseases. Moreover, his doctor and family are in Lahore. The court approved the request and ordered to shift Sharif to Kot Lakhpat jail after the Sharif's counsel produced a medical report.
Sharif was taken into custody from the court premises following the verdict. NAB team shifted Sharif to Adiala Jial for the time being. He will be shifted to Kot Lakphat jail on Tuesday (Today).
Talking to reporters inside Accountability Court after the judgment, Sharif said this is the decision of the party that PML-N will remain after his name, adding that the party is in safe hands.
To another question, he said that Maryam Nawaz and her younger sister, who had returned from the UK, wanted to accompany him but he stopped them. "I asked Maryam to be with my mother because when she weeps, it breaks my heart into pieces," he said.
Meanwhile, NAB has decided to file an appeal against the acquittal of Sharif in the Flagship reference by Accountability court. This was decided in a meeting chaired by Chairman NAB former Justice Javed Iqbal.
The decision of filing an appeal was taken after a detailed consultation by all concerned. The bureau will file an appeal after getting certified authentic copies of the court judgment.
The capital police made extraordinary security arrangements in and around the Judicial Complex to avert any untoward incident on the occasion. The district administration had imposed Section 144 in the areas around Judicial Complex and also blocked some roads for traffic.
Agencies add: The anti-corruption court in Islamabad said in its ruling that the three-time prime minister was unable to prove the source of income that had led to his ownership of a steel mill in Saudi Arabia. Under Pakistani law, this is taken to prove corruption.
Sharif had already been sentenced by the same court to 10 years in prison on charges related to the purchase of upscale apartments in London, after the Supreme Court removed him from power. He was freed from custody in September pending an appeal.
Sharif's supporters said he would also appeal against his latest conviction. "Appeal is our right, we will protest but will remain peaceful," former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, who had succeeded Sharif last year, told reporters outside the courthouse.
Sharif was ousted and disqualified from holding office by the Supreme Court in July 2017, and convicted in absentia a year later. He was arrested on July 13 on returning from London.
The court ruled on Thursday on two charges related to Sharif's assets: the Al-Azizia Steel Mills in Saudi Arabia, set up by Sharif's father in 2001, and Flagship Investments, a company established by his son, Hasan Nawaz, that owns luxury properties in Britain.
Sharif was found to have been unable to demonstrate that his family had acquired the steel mill legitimately, but was acquitted on the second charge, relating to Flagship.
Sharif denied the charges which he said were politically motivated. He accused the military and courts of working together to end his political career and destabilise his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party.
Sharif was once a favourite of Pakistan's powerful generals but fell out with them. The military has denied exerting any influence over the court proceedings.
Daniyal Aziz, a former lawmaker from Sharif's party, criticised the National Accountability Bureau, the watchdog that charged Sharif, and described the verdict as "the weaponisation of anti-corruption".
"With each passing day an expression of a double standard is coming forward from the NAB," Aziz said.
Before the verdict, hundreds of Sharif supporters threw stones outside the courthouse at police, who fired teargas.
Five months ago, Sharif's PML-N lost a general election to the party of Imran Khan, the new prime minister whose anti-corruption campaign and street protests spurred the cases against Sharif.
PML-N and other opposition politicians allege the election was rigged to favour Khan, who is seen as close to the army. Both Khan and the military have denied colluding against Sharif and the PML-N.
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