ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday requested the Islamabad High Court for early hearing of the appeal against his conviction in the Al-Azizia/Hill Metal Establishment reference.

A division bench of the IHC comprising Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani will hear Mr Sharif’s appeal.

Barrister Munawwar Duggal has filed an application seeking immediate hearing of the appeal against the verdict announced by an accountability court in the reference on Dec 24, 2018.

In the application, the defence counsel pointed out that the winter vacation had ended and, therefore, the appeal against the conviction might be fixed before the available bench.

It may be mentioned that during the vacation, the IHC heard only important and urgent cases that included bail, habeas corpus and other matters related to fundamental rights.

Another IHC division bench comprising Chief Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Aamer Farooq had on Monday taken up Mr Sharif’s petition seeking suspension of his sentence.

The bench, however, pointed out that since the appeal against the conviction in the Al-Azizia-Hill Metal Establishment had neither been fixed nor taken up, the petition for suspension of the sentence could not be entertained at this stage.

The bench reserved the order of the day after a preliminary hearing of the petition seeking suspension of the sentence.

The court, however, released the order on Tuesday deciding to take up the petition after the appeal against the conviction would be admitted for regular hearing.

Accountability court judge Mohammad Arshad Malik had on Dec 24 convicted Mr Sharif in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills Company (ASCL) and Hill Metal Establishment (HME) reference and awarded him seven years imprisonment and fined him Rs1.5 billion and $25 million.

Mr Sharif filed the appeal through his lead counsel Khawaja Haris Ahmed who pointed out certain ‘extraneous’ factors which accountability judges never consider while imparting judgements in routine cases.

The judge, however, acquitted Mr Sharif in the reference pertaining to Flagship and other UK-based companies owned by his son Hassan Nawaz. As per the charge sheet, the former premier has allegedly “injected an amount of GBP3.2 million” in Flagship Investment Ltd and other companies.

The charge sheet accused Mr Sharif of accumulating these assets in the names of his children.

The National Accountability Bureau, on the other hand, has challenged the acquittal of Nawaz Sharif in the Flagship Investment reference and also requested the IHC to enhance his jail term from seven to 14 years.

Published in Dawn, January 9th, 2019