An accountability court in its detailed verdict on Monday declared that former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was given the "benefit of doubt" in Flagship Investment corruption reference over lack of evidence.
The 69-page detailed judgement in the Flagship reference authored by Judge Mohammad Arshad Malik of an accountability court said that possibility of Sharif being the real beneficial owner of Flagship Investment Ltd "cannot be ruled out."
He cited a 2015 judgement and reiterated that for the charged person to be saddled with liability, the prosecution has to establish its case "beyond all reasonable doubts."
He continued that "based on available evidence, it is inclined to extend the benefit of the doubt" to the PML-N leader.
However, he noted that the co-accused - Sharif's sons Hassan Nawaz and Hussain Nawaz - "have already been declared as proclaimed offenders" and ordered that their "perpetual non-bailable" arrest warrants be issued. "The trial of such accused would be conducted after their return to the country," it added.
Judge Malik stated that the possibility of Sharif having supplied Hassan with funds to the tune of £705,071 from his "undeclared, secret wealth and assets held outside Pakistan cannot be ruled out completely" but noted that "there is insufficient evidence to safely reach the conclusion."
In his verdict, the judge declared that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) failed to prove Nawaz Sharif's corruption in 16 offshore companies and his direct links to these companies.
He said sufficient proof was also not produced to prove that Nawaz Sharif had taken benefits from these companies and kept their 'benami' assets.
The judge said Nawaz Sharif was exonerated as the prosecution failed to prove the charges against him.
The court declared that NAB was unable to produce evidence against the allegations of thirteen companies in which Sharif was indicted and only produce the record of ten companies.
The court declared that Capital FZE was an admitted fact which cannot be denied. There were enough proofs in the Al-Azizia reference that Nawaz got profit from Hill Metals and was a proven fact that he was getting 88 percent profit and the facts were satisfactory that Nawaz Sharif had beneficial interest in Hill Metal and Al-Azizia cases.
The accountability court in its short order on December 24 had acquitted the former premier in the Flagship reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
The prosecuting agency, NAB, has already decided that it will file an appeal against the judgement in the Flagship reference. The decision was taken at a meeting presided over by NAB Chairman Justice Javed Iqbal (retd) soon after the verdict's announcement in the court.
Under the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO), an appeal against the verdict of the accountability court may be filed within 10 days of receipt of a written order of the court.
The Supreme Court in its verdict of April 20, 2017 had ordered the formation of a joint investigation team (JIT) headed by an additional director general of the Federal Investigation Agency and asked it to answer multiple questions including those relating to the setting up of the Al-Azizia/Hill Metals Establishment (HME) and Flagship Investment.
The apex court had also asked the JIT to probe into any transactions from the Gulf Steel Mills (GSM) through which the Sharif family had allegedly acquired the Avenfield properties, HME and Flagship Investment as well as other companies.
Subsequently, the alleged money trail of the Sharif family started from AED 12 million from GSM which were invested with a Qatari family and drawn for Avenfield properties, HME and Flagship Investment.
In its report submitted to the Supreme Court in July 2017, the JIT rejected the said money trail. Accountability Judge Mohammad Bashir in his verdict in the Avenfield properties reference and Judge Arshad Malik remained unconvinced about the financial source from which the Sharif family was said to have acquired properties and started businesses in the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia.
The difference between the HME and Flagship Investment references was that in the former, the prosecution had brought on judicial record that Sharif received US $10.2 million and 1.26 million euros from the HME whereas no such amount was remitted in the name of Sharif from the Flagship Investment and other companies owned by Hassan Nawaz in the UK.
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