Tag: accountability court

  • ‘Chinese govt has given proof of Shehbaz Sharif’s innocence’

    ‘Chinese govt has given proof of Shehbaz Sharif’s innocence’

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Deputy Secretary General Attaullah Tarar on Tuesday said that the Chinese government has given proof of innocence of party chief and former Punjab chief minister (CM) Shehbaz Sharif, who is currently in jail over money laundering charges.

    “This letter from the Chinese Embassy to Shehbaz Sharif goes on to prove our innocence,” the party leader was heard as saying in the video of a media talk.

    Earlier in the day, the incarcerated PML-N chief, during an accountability court hearing of the Ramazan Sugar Mills case of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against him, presented a letter from the Chinese Consul General in Lahore appreciating him for his efforts into the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects in Punjab.

    According to a report in Daily Jang, the judge asked whether Shehbaz had something to say after the anti-graft watchdog’s arguments.

    “I have brought a letter sent to me by the Chinese Consul General in Lahore,” said the PML-N president as he started reading the letter before the court. “I have been facing a barrage of accusations for two years, yet the Chinese Consul General is praising my work as the CM. He is appreciating a prisoner – it is no doubt an honour for me.”

    NAB prosecutor objected to Shehbaz Sharif reading the contents of the letter during the hearing, stressing that it was irrelevant to the ongoing case and a waste of the court’s time.

    To this, the judge said he had already directed Shehbaz to stay on topic.

  • Judge, sacked over leaked video, challenges removal

    Judge, sacked over leaked video, challenges removal

    Former accountability court judge Arshad Malik on Saturday challenged his removal from service in the Lahore High Court (LHC).

    An administration committee of the high court approved in July “removal from service” of the now-former judge on charges of misconduct after a year-long inquiry into the video scandal that broke last July, sending ripples through political and legal circles.

    READ: LHC sacks controversial judge who convicted Nawaz Sharif

    Malik challenged his removal and contended that the rules and regulations for the dismissal were not met, the management committee had prepared a report contrary to the facts and that misconduct was not committed.

    He requested that the decision be reconsidered.

    Moreover, a three-member tribunal has been constituted to take up the dismissal of the former judge.

    READ: ‘Judge who convicted Nawaz to be removed from post’

    Justice Muhammad Tariq Abbasi has been appointed as the chairman of the tribunal whereas, Justice Masood Naqvi and Justice Sajid Sethi have been appointed as members.

    Following the approval of LHC Chief Justice Qasim Khan, a notification was issued to form a tribunal to hear the service appeals of the judges of the lower judiciary.

  • Six cases against Malik Riaz’s son-in-law dropped after payment of Rs9.5 billion

    Six cases against Malik Riaz’s son-in-law dropped after payment of Rs9.5 billion

    Zain Malik, the son-in-law of property tycoon Malik Riaz, has been acquitted by an accountability court in six cases pertaining to fake accounts after he pledged to pay Rs9.5 billion in plea bargain, Dawn reported.

    The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) submitted a schedule of payment to the accountability court.

    Accountability Court judge Mohammad Bashir took up applications of Mr Malik seeking acquittal in three under-trial cases and approved them.

    Zain undertook to mortgage his six properties and pay Rs4 billion in one case, Rs170 million in another and Rs37 million in the third case to NAB, Rawalpindi Directorate, in three years. He will pay the amount in instalments in three months’ interval.

    He joined the court’s proceeding through a video link from the UK.

    When the judge asked Zain whether he knew consequences of acquittal through the plea bargain, he replied in the affirmative.

    The acquittal under the plea bargain did not absolve the accused from the case as the conviction stands despite acquittal.

    He is accused in the fake accounts cases of Pink Residency, Illegal Allotment and Mega Money Laundering. He is also an accused in the Icon Tower case of Karachi and has to formally plead in the accountability court in this case for acquittal under the plea bargain.

  • PML-N’s Ahsan Iqbal accidentally arrives at accountability court, sent back home

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader and former federal minister Ahsan Iqbal on Tuesday accidentally arrived at an accountability court in Islamabad, from where he was sent back home by court staff.

    As per the details, the PML-N stalwart, against whom the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has filed a reference over alleged corruption in the Narowal Sport City project, is to appear before the court tomorrow (Wednesday).

    He, however, mistakenly arrived at the court a day earlier and was informed that his hearing wasn’t until a day later, after which he returned back home.

    Reacting to The Current‘s report on Twitter, Iqbal said:

    Iqbal was earlier also arrested in connection to the probe into the sports complex built in his hometown.

    Construction of the complex, which includes a cricket stadium, gymnasium, squash and hockey ground, began in 2009 when Iqbal was in the opposition. But work picked up pace when the PML-N came to power in the 2013 election. That year, Iqbal was appointed the minister for planning and development.

    Below is the charge sheet against the politician from December last year:

    • Illegally increasing the cost of the Narowal Sports City complex from Rs35.410 million to Rs97.520 million, without approval from the Planning Commission’s Central Development Working Party (CDWP). Ahsan, adds NAB, was the minister of planning and development and the deputy chairman of the CDWP at the time. Rather than taking the project to the CDWP, he instead approved it on his own.

    • Iqbal initiated the project without a feasibility study, which was in violation of the development manual of the Planning Commission.

    • After the 18th Amendment, the project was devolved to the Punjab government in 2012 to be completed with its own resources. Yet, reads the charge sheet, funds were taken from the federal government to bankroll the complex. Iqbal, it adds, “further enhanced the scope of the project without any demand from the provincial government”.

  • LHC sacks controversial judge who convicted Nawaz Sharif

    LHC sacks controversial judge who convicted Nawaz Sharif

    Lahore High Court (LHC) Chief Justice (CJ) Muhammad Qasim Khan on Friday dismissed controversial judge Arshad Malik from his post, Geo reported.

    According to reports, the decision was taken by the administration committee of the LHC, which was chaired by LHC CJ and attended by seven other senior judges, including justices Ameer Bhatti, Malik Shahzad Khan, Ayesha Malik, Shahid Waheed and Ali Baqar Najafi.

    The career of the accountability court judge, who had sentenced former prime minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif to seven years in prison in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills reference, went down the hill after Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in 2019 released a video clip purportedly showing him admitting to a lack of evidence against the ousted former premier in the same case.

    READ: ‘Judge who convicted Nawaz to be removed from post’

    PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz had showed the video and read out its transcript at a press conference lasting more than an hour.

    PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif, former PM Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, and other senior party leaders had accompanied Maryam at the press conference at the time.

    The video purportedly showed the accountability court judge speaking to a PML-N worker named Nasir Butt and claiming that he was coerced to hand down the prison sentence against Nawaz despite there being no proof of corruption against the deposed premier.

    READ: ‘Maryam distances herself from NAB judge’s scandalous video’

    PML-N leadership has since been demanding that Nawaz’s sentence be nullified. The convicted ex-PM is already out of prison to seek medical treatment in London.