Nawaz’s sons to surrender before court on March 12 in corruption cases: Report

ISLAMABAD: Former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s two sons have approached a special court here, seeking suspension of their arrest warrants in three corruption cases related to the Panama Papers, to surrender before it on March 12, a media report said on Thursday.

Hussain Nawaz and Hassan Nawaz, through their counsel Qazi Misbahul Hassan, filed an application in the Islamabad accountability court, seeking the suspension of their perpetual arrest warrants issued in the Avenfield Apartments, Al-Azizia and Flagship Investment references, the Dawn newspaper reported.

According to the report, both sons of the former three-time premier would reach Pakistan’s capital city on March 12, and they requested the court to suspend their arrest warrants, enabling them to reach the court to surrender.

The counsel informed accountability court Judge Nasir Javed Rana that they are residents of Saudi Arabia and the UK respectively, and were named as accused persons in these cases along with their father, former premier Nawaz Sharif, their sister, Maryam Nawaz, and retired Captain Safdar, their brother-in-law.

The counsel said the trial in these cases commenced when both of them were not in Pakistan. The advocate said they were unaware of the formal legal process, and the state never attempted to adopt the due course to serve the legal process, which included the issuance of notices, arrest warrants, and proclamations, the report said.

Incidentally, Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz were both convicted in the Avenfield case days before the previous general elections in 2018. Sharif was also convicted in the Al-Azizia corruption case in December 2018 but acquitted in the Flagship Investment reference, the Dawn reported.

Sharif, Maryam, and Capt Safdar challenged their conviction in the Avenfield reference before the Islamabad High Court (IHC). Sharif also challenged the conviction in the Al-Azizia case.

However, when Sharif went abroad in a self-imposed exile and did not return, the IHC declared him a proclaimed offender. While he was in the UK, Maryam and Capt Safdar pursued the case, and the IHC finally set aside their conviction.

When Sharif returned to Pakistan in October last year, his appeals against convictions were revived, leading to the IHC setting aside his conviction in both cases as well.

Nawaz’s younger brother Shehbaz Sharif was elected as Pakistan's prime minister for a second time after the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and the Pakistan Peoples Party agreed on a power-sharing deal to form a coalition government.

In the February 8 elections, Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party came second behind independent candidates backed by jailed former prime minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

Maryam, the 50-year-old daughter of Nawaz Sharif, took oath as the first-ever woman chief minister of Pakistan's most populous and politically crucial Punjab province on February 26.