LHC forms bench to hear plea against Sharifs’ Avenfield conviction

LAHORE: The chief justice of the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Saturday constituted a full bench to hear a petition seeking annulment of the punishment handed to the Sharif family in the Avenfield properties corruption reference.

On July 6, an accountability court had sentenced former prime minister Nawaz Sharif to a total of 11 years in prison and imposed a £8 million fine (Rs1.3 billion) on him in the Avenfield corruption reference. His daughter Maryam was sentenced to eight years in prison with a £2 million fine (Rs335 million), while her husband Capt (retd) Safdar was given a one-year sentence without any fine.

The convictions, delivered under the National Accountability Ordinance 1999, were challenged in the LHC by senior lawyer A.K. Dogar, who contended that the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) law is no more valid after the implementation of 18th amendment.

The three-time prime minister was sentenced under this ‘dead law’ which is illegal, Dogar argued in the petition, and requested to nullify the sentences of Nawaz, Maryam and Safdar.

The three-member bench formed to hear the petition comprises Justice Shams Mehmood Mirza, Justice Sajid Mehmood Sethi and Justice Mujahid Mustaqeem.

The bench will hear the petition on Wednesday, August 8.