Supreme Court The Supreme Court on Monday granted a six-week extension in the deadline to the accountability court for concluding the remaining two corruption references against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his family.
A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar and comprising Justice Umar Ata Bandial and Justice Ijazul Ahsan heard the petition of accountability court II Judge Mohammad Arshad Malik.
The judge had submitted a written request to the Supreme Court seeking an extension to conclude the Al-Azizia and Flagship Investment references.
As the hearing started, the chief justice sought a briefing on the background of the case. “Till date I have not taken interest in this case or what the issue is,” he stated.
Nawaz’s counsel Khawaja Harris briefed the chief justice about the case and requested the top court to give the accountability court till December 15 to conclude the remaining two references. “We cannot grant such a long extension, nor we want to interfere in the accountability court’s trial,” the chief justice observed, and granted a six-week extension in the deadline.
The trial against the Sharif family commenced on September 14, 2017. On July 6 this year, after four extensions in the original six-month deadline to conclude all three cases, the accountability court had announced its verdict in the Avenfield reference.
Nawaz and his sons Hussain and Hasan Nawaz are accused in all three references whereas Maryam and Safdar were accused in the Avenfield reference only.
Published in Daily Times, August 28th 2018.
