LAHORE: The National Accountability Bureau appears to be in no hurry to challenge the Islamabad High Court’s verdict to acquit PML-N vice president Maryam Nawaz Sharif in the Avenfield apartments reference.
The IHC, on Thursday, had acquitted Ms Sharif and her spouse Mohammad Safdar of the charges and set aside the convictions.
Replying to a query from Dawn, NAB spokesperson Nadeem Khan said the bureau was yet to receive a written copy of the order. “We will decide whether to challenge it or not after getting the written order,” he said.
On July 6, 2018, Ms Sharif, along with her father former premier Nawaz Sharif, was convicted in the Avenfield properties reference.
Mr Sharif was sentenced to 11 years in jail, while Ms Sharif was handed a seven-year prison term for abetment.
Mr Safdar was sentenced to a year in prison for not cooperating with NAB and aiding and abetting Mr Sharif and Ms Sharif.
Subsequently, Ms Sharif was disqualified from contesting elections for a decade.
A former NAB official told Dawn it appeared that the bureau did not ‘vigorously’ fight the case after the recent amendments to the NAB laws and as a result, the convicts managed to get the relief.
He further said the new NAB Chairman Aftab Sultan might decide to not challenge the IHC’s decision in the Supreme Court as the accountability watchdog ‘has no strong points in the case’.
Published in Dawn, October 1st, 2022
