Nawaz Sharif acquitted in Al-Azizia reference

Nawaz Sharif has been acquitted in the Al-Azizia reference. The development comes on Tuesday as the Islamabad High Court (IHC) turned down the idea of Nawaz’s re-trial in the Nat­ional Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) court.

The decision comes as a major boost for the senior politician’s bid to become the next prime minister of the country.

IHC division bench comprising Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb took up Mr Sharif’s appeal against his conviction in the reference.

National Accountability Bureau prosecutor during the proceedings, presented arguments in the court.

Amjad Pervaiz, counsel for Nawaz Sharif, argued that the prosecution had failed to prove Mr Sharif’s ownership of Al-Azizia Steel Mills and its successor Hill Metal Establishment (HME).

He urged before the court that the prosecution had brought 22 witnesses, among them 13 were custodians of record and five witnessed the seizure of the recovery memo.

He argued that out of 22, only two — the head of JIT Wajid Zia and NAB’s investigation officer Mehboob Alam — were the material witnesses.

Amjad Pervaiz then referred to the testimonies and cross-examination of both the witnesses and pointed out that they had admitted that there was no direct evidence of Nawaz Sharif’s ownership, price of the steel mills, determination of the income of the former premier and a comparison of his known sources of income with the price of the companies.

“Mr Sharif was not holding a public office when Al-Azizia Steel Mills was established in 2001 and HME in 2006 as he was in exile following the October 1999 military coup,” he said, adding, that Mr Sharif’s son Hussain Nawaz had established the Al-Azizia mills along with his grandfather Mian Mohammad Sharif.