Al-Azizia reference: Nawaz’ lawyers to submit appeal today

ISLAMABAD: The appeal against the sentence given to former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in Al-Azizia Steel Mills reference would be submitted today (Thursday) in the Islamabad High Court (IHC).

In the appeal, Nawaz Sharif’s lawyers have stated “the conviction is illegal and unwarranted by law, based on inadmissible evidence and unproven documents, and on misconception and misinterpretation of law, and is liable to be set aside,”

Nawaz Sharif’s lawyer Khawaja Haris has clarified that they have not submitted appeal against the verdict in Al-Azizia reference so far, so reports about submission of the appeal and objections on it by the IHC registrar are totally wrong and fabricated.

The draft of the appeal available with The News states, “The trial judge has not only betrayed his inherent bias and predisposition while deciding the case against the appellant, he has also exceeded his jurisdiction as a trial judge.”

It says, “The judge has completely misconceived and misunderstood the meaning of the word ‘assets’ as defined in Section 5(c) of the NAO, 1999.”

The appeal further states, “The judge has held the appellant to be the owner of and thus accountable for even those remittances originating from Hill Metal Establishment (HME) which were never received by him, or are not held by any person on his behalf, and has further included as part of such assets an amount aggregating Rs273.254 billion and $52,460 which were never ever included in or form part of the charge framed against the appellant in the instant case.”

It also points out that the appellant in his speech in the National Assembly had stated that the entire record and documents pertaining to Dubai and Jeddah factories existed, however, he never claimed that the said record and documents were in his possession. It says the MLA response does not fall within the purview of the provisions of Section 21 of the NAO, 1999.