Avenfield Reference; Punishment of Maryam & Safdar declared unjustified

Islamabad: The Islamabad High Court issued a detailed decision on the Avenfield reference, annulling the decision of the accountability court on July 6, 2018 and accepting the appeals.

According to Sources, a two-member division bench comprising Amir Farooq and Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani of the Islamabad High Court issued a 41-page detailed decision to accept the appeals against the sentence of Maryam Nawaz and Captain retired Safdar in the Avenfield reference. Is.

In the detailed decision, it has been said that the trial court rejected the charge of corruption against Nawaz Sharif against which no appeal was filed. The only charge against Nawaz Sharif was assets in excess of income, Avenfield apartments owned by companies were attributed to Nawaz Sharif.

The court wrote that the trial court said that the letters from the Panamanian law firm are proof that Maryam Nawaz is the beneficial owner of Avenfield Apartments, the documents received from any other country will be taken as evidence under the Shahadat Order. .

The trial court misinterpreted the law, these letters were from a law firm, not a government. Convicting Maryam Nawaz by relying on these documents was unjustified. Even if these documents are accepted as correct, Maryam Nawaz has not been given proof of Nawaz Sharif’s sponsorship.

The judges said that nothing has been proven that Nawaz Sharif paid the money to buy the properties. The prosecution had to find out the known sources of Nawaz Sharif’s income at that time, but NAB did not mention Nawaz Sharif’s income tax returns, bank accounts, or any other source on the record. At what price were the properties bought? There is no evidence on NAB records that when the properties came to Nawaz Sharif, he was a public office holder, NAB’s role in the investigation has been disappointing.
The Supreme Court sent the case to NAB and asked them to investigate it themselves. The statement of Wajid Zia, DG NAB and the investigating officer shows that NAB did not attempt to investigate and relied only on the GIT report. The final opinion was formed from the GTI report itself.

The Islamabad High Court said in a detailed decision that the decision of the accountability court of July 6, 2018 is null and void and the appeals are accepted. The court issued a summary judgment of acquittal on September 29, 2022.

During the hearing, the court said that Nawaz Sharif’s appeal has not been dismissed for failure to appear before us, but Maryam Nawaz’s case cannot be seen separately from Nawaz Sharif’s case.

The court said that NAB failed to prove that Nawaz Sharif illegally took the Avenfield apartments in the name of Maryam Nawaz and NAB also has no proof that Maryam Nawaz helped to hide the original ownership.

The Islamabad High Court said that there is nothing on the record of NAB that when the properties came to Nawaz Sharif, he was a public office holder, NAB could not even bring the link on record which proves that Nawaz Sharif was a public office holder and not a public office holder. Properties were taken legally.

The judges remarked that NAB says that these properties were purchased between 1993 and 1996, for which NAB should have attached the notification of Nawaz Sharif’s public office holder which was not attached.