ISLAMABAD: Deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif has filed three petitions in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) to set aside an order of the accountability court through which the court framed charges separately in three corruption references filed against the Sharif family by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
Challenging the trial court’s order of October 19, the ousted premier has sought IHC’s directions for the accountability court to frame a joint charge and conduct a single trial against the Sharif family. The former PM has also prayed the court to suspend proceedings of the accountability court till the framing of the joint charge. He has made the State respondent through NAB chairman and the accountability court judge.
A divisional bench comprising Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kiyani and Justice Aamer Farooq heard Nawaz’s plea and sent notices to the federal government. The hearing was then adjourned until November 2.
In his petition, Nawaz has pleaded the IHC to declare the October 19 decision illegal and order the accountability court to combine the three references against him into one.
On October 13, the former prime minister filed a similar plea in the Supreme Court seeking the quashing of ‘concurrent’ corruption references against him. The plea asked the Supreme Court to halt the accountability court proceedings of the three references against the Sharif family until a single reference is filed. Before the indictment, the accountability court had also dismissed three applications by the Sharif family wherein they had prayed the court for a stay on the trial until the release of a detailed judgment by the Supreme Court over their review petition.
Published in Daily Times, October 26th 2017.
