{"id":34568,"date":"2023-12-12T11:54:10","date_gmt":"2023-12-12T11:54:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/nawaz-clears-another-legal-hurdle-in-way-of-elections-secures-acquittal-from-ihc-in-al-azizia-case\/"},"modified":"2023-12-12T11:54:10","modified_gmt":"2023-12-12T11:54:10","slug":"nawaz-clears-another-legal-hurdle-in-way-of-elections-secures-acquittal-from-ihc-in-al-azizia-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/nawaz-clears-another-legal-hurdle-in-way-of-elections-secures-acquittal-from-ihc-in-al-azizia-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Nawaz clears another legal hurdle in way of elections, secures acquittal from IHC in Al-Azizia case"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div dir=\"auto\">\n<p>In yet another major relief for the PML-N, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday acquitted PML-N Supremo Nawaz Sharif in the Al-Azizia reference.<\/p>\n<p>A two-judge bench comprising IHC Chief Justice (CJ) Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb announced the verdict, which was reserved earlier in the day, while hearing Nawaz\u2019s appeal against his conviction in the Al-Azizia reference.<\/p>\n<p>The Al-Azizia case was one of the two graft references that Nawaz was convicted in. He was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1793774\">acquitted<\/a> in the Avenfield reference on Nov 29 by the same bench.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"media  sm:w-1\/2  w-full  media--right  media--embed  media--uneven\">\n<p>    <iframe class=\"nk-iframe\" onload=\"setInterval(()=&gt;{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+'px';}catch{}}, 100)\" width=\"100%\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" style=\"height:400px;position:relative\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/card\/1779291\" sandbox=\"allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The Al-Azizia Steel Mills corruption reference pertains to a case in which he was sentenced to seven years in jail on Dec 24, 2018. He was also fined Rs1.5 billion and US$25 million.<\/p>\n<p>The reference pertains to the Sharifs being unable to justify the source of the funds provided to set up Al-Azizia Steel Mills and Hill Metal Establishment (HME) in Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n<p>The IHC had declared him a proclaimed offender in the case in December 2020. After leaving for London on medical grounds, Nawaz remained there for nearly four years and only returned to the country in October this year.<\/p>\n<p>Soon after his return, Nawaz had formally filed two separate applications seeking restoration of his appeals against the conviction in reference.<\/p>\n<p>In the application, the PML-N supreme leader had said that while he was abroad for medical treatment, the pending appeals were dismissed for non-prosecution. The application requested the court to revive the pending appeals to decide on these pleas on merit.<\/p>\n<p>The IHC had on Oct 24 revived Nawaz\u2019s app\u00adeals in the two reference.<\/p>\n<p>At the previous hearing, the court had turned down the National Accountability Bureau\u2019s suggestion that Nawaz\u2019s conviction in the reference be set aside and the case be re-tried. It had also declared that it would decide the PML-N supremo\u2019s appeal on merit.<\/p>\n<p>Ahead of today\u2019s hearing, Nawaz arrived in court along with senior PML-N leaders including Ishaq Dar and Azam Nazeer Tarar.<\/p>\n<h2><a id=\"todays-hearing\" href=\"#todays-hearing\" class=\"heading-permalink\" aria-hidden=\"true\" title=\"Permalink\"\/>Today\u2019s hearing<\/h2>\n<p>At the outset of the hearing, Nawaz\u2019 lawyer Amjad Pervaiz came to the rostrum and told the court that he wanted to argue on the matter of Nawaz\u2019s dependents.<\/p>\n<p>However, IHC CJ Farooq pointed out that the PML-N lawyer had completed his arguments in the case. Pervaiz insisted that he wanted to argue on one point in this regard.<\/p>\n<p>The court then asked whether NAB had proven anything related to Nawaz\u2019s dependents. The lawyer responded that one of the witnesses, Wajid Zia, had admitted that there was no evidence pertaining to Nawaz\u2019s dependents.<\/p>\n<p>He said that there were several court verdicts present regarding the definition of benami. Pervaiz then presented 13 separate verdicts in benami cases. He contended that the legal team had also raised its objections in front of the trial court that convicted Nawaz.<\/p>\n<p>He said that the trial court had relied on three major points. Nawaz\u2019s lawyer said that the trial court had kept the civil miscellaneous applications filed in the Panama case as the basis.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll three civil miscellaneous applications were filed by Maryam Nawaz, Hassan Nawaz and Hussain Nawaz,\u201d he contended. He highlighted that not a single civil miscellaneous application was filed by Nawaz.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn its judgement, the trial court held that the civil miscellaneous applications were criminal material,\u201d the lawyer said. \u201cNot a single application proves that Nawaz was the owner of these assets,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>At one point, the IHC CJ asked about the contents of the civil miscellaneous applications. \u201cThe applications were not placed on record. Documents related to them were placed on record,\u201d Pervaiz responded.<\/p>\n<p>He reiterated that the applications did not state that Nawaz owned the assets, adding that they instead stated that the matter did not concern the PML-N supremo.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is a principle that evidence in one case cannot be admissible in another. Especially when the nature of both cases is separate,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Pervaiz further said that the trial court also relied on an interview given by Hussain Nawaz to a private TV channel in 2016. \u201cEven though Hussain was saying in the interview that the matter did not concern Nawaz,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Nawaz\u2019s lawyer further said that an accused was innocent until proven guilty. He said that the onus was on the prosecution to prove the charges against the accused. \u201cThe burden of proof is on the prosecution, not the accused,\u201d Pervaiz said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe accused cannot be forced to prove his innocence,\u201d he said. Nawaz\u2019s lawyer said that there was no previous assets case where the accused was convicted without presenting clear proof of ownership.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe prosecution could not present a single piece of evidence. Therefore, the the burden of proof cannot be transferred onto the accused,\u201d he said as he wrapped up his arguments.<\/p>\n<p>The NAB prosecutor, Azhar Maqbool Shah, then came to the rostrum and began his arguments. He said that a references were filed in accountability courts on the directives of the Supreme Court. He further said that a joint investigation team (JIT) was formed to probe the NAB references.<\/p>\n<p>He said that the accountability watchdog conducted its own investigation. \u201cIn cases concerning assets, there are only two to three methods of investigation,\u201d he said, adding that all the evidence collected was part of the record.<\/p>\n<p>These also included statements recorded under Section 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, he said. He also read out loud some parts of Nawaz\u2019s indictment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAl-Azizia and Hill metal are the two prime allegations. Tell us when the Al-Azizia allegations were brought,\u201d asked the IHC CJ. \u201cYou were the prosecutor. Tell us what evidence you possessed. Tell us on what basis you transferred the burden of proof onto the accused,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLeave the law. We have the read the laws. Come straight to the prosecution,\u201d the IHC CJ told the NAB lawyer. \u201cIs there any evidence on record? Is there any witness present?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n<p>Shah said that Nawaz was indicted on charges of corruption and corrupt practices. Witnesses from the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) and the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) were presented in court, he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is a case of white collar crime,\u201d he said. Shah further said that evidence was collected from across the country and said that letters were also written to collect evidence from abroad.<\/p>\n<p>The IHC CJ then asked the NAB lawyer to tell the court about the evidence which it was linking to the case. There must be some documents pertaining to the ownership of assets, he remarked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBefore going into the evidence, I would like to clear up a confusion. At the previous hearing, you had asked for the case to be remanded back to the trial court,\u201d Justice Aurangzeb said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have not yet passed an order. You can maintain the conviction while arguing on the merits of the appeal,\u201d he remarked.<\/p>\n<p>For his part, Shah conceded that the bureau had asked for the case to be remanded back to the trial court.<\/p>\n<p>He said that after the Supreme Court verdict concerning judge Arshad Malik \u2014 who had convicted Nawaz in the case \u2014 and his subsequent dismissal, the \u201cverdict cannot be called accurate\u201d. He said that the trial court\u2019s verdict in the Al-Azizia case was \u201cbiased\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The IHC CJ then said that the court did not pass an order on the petition concerning judge Arshad Malik. He noted that NAB had stated that it did not want further proceedings on the matter.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe NAB lawyer is correct in saying that the Supreme Court\u2019s observations in the Arshad Malik case were quite strong,\u201d Justice Farooq remarked. He said that the IHC would have kept this in mind if the NAB had not filed an application on the matter.<\/p>\n<p>Shah then began arguing on the merits of the case. At this, the IHC CJ said, \u201cYou will have to provide evidence that all of this happened through corruption.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The NAB lawyer said that according to the JIT formed by the Supreme Court, the assets in question were acquired through corrupt practices. However, the IHC CJ pointed out that the JIT\u2019s lead witness, Wajid Zia, was saying that he had no evidence to prove this.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is all based on conjecture. A conviction cannot be handed down based on conjecture. If there is evidence then tell us,\u201d Justice Farooq said.<\/p>\n<p>Shah further said that most of the documents placed on record in the case were photocopies. At this, the court asked how photocopies, not the original documents, were a part of the case record.<\/p>\n<p>Tarar then chimed in, saying, \u201cTill date, we have not received even a certified copy of the photocopied documents.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The court then reserved its verdict in the case.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In yet another major relief for the PML-N, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday acquitted PML-N Supremo Nawaz Sharif in the Al-Azizia reference. A two-judge bench comprising IHC Chief Justice (CJ) Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb announced the verdict, which was reserved earlier in the day, while hearing Nawaz\u2019s appeal against his [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34569,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.dawn.com\/large\/2023\/12\/1216211320006d9.png?r=162151","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pakistan"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34568\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}