Court orders against attaching Avenfield flats in Broadsheet case

LONDON: The UK High Court of Justice has issued an order against the attachment of four Avenfield Apartments owned by the Sharif family — relating to the case Broadsheet vs Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

In its application before the High Court here, the Broadsheet had prayed for attachment of the four apartments arguing that since the confiscation of the Avenfield apartments was ordered by Judge Muhammad Bashir of the Accountability Court in the Avenfield reference, the Government of Pakistan had interest in the properties and therefore the properties should be made part of the court proceedings and handed over to the Broadsheet if Pakistan failed to pay to the Broadsheet.

The Broadsheet had launched its claim against Avenfield flats on the basis that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) government had requested to British authorities to hand over Avenfield flats to Pakistan. While the court upheld the claim of the assets recovery firm Broadsheet by freezing the Pakistan High Commission’s bank accounts after the Broadsheet won litigation against the Government of Pakistan and received nearly $29 million in judgment and costs, the High Court has ordered against the attachment of the Avenfield Properties.

This correspondent has seen four court orders issued by the Business and Property Courts of High Court of Justice, under The Claimant (Broadsheet LLC) and the Defendants (Islamic Republic of Pakistan and National Accountability Bureau).

The Sharif family’s Avenfield flats in Mayfair were subjected to a claim by the Broadsheet LLC in October 2019 at the London High Court to enforce the payment of the outstanding $22 million owed to the firm by the Government of Pakistan. On December 30, the Government of Pakistan made a payment of nearly $29 million under a London High Court order to the Broadsheet LLC.

Master Davison has written in the orders that he considered the application of the Claimant dated June 16, 2020 and “Ordered that the Defendants’ interest in the asset described in the schedule below stand charged with payment of US$28,676,563.70 together with any further interest becoming due and the costs of the application (“the Interim Charging Order”) 4.”

The Broadsheet’s agent confirmed to this correspondent that it has withdrawn application against the Avenfield apartments after the court found that the NAB/Pakistan-government violated the contract and were held directly responsible. The agent clarified that the Government of Pakistan “did not pay voluntarily”. The liquidation agent said: “The seized money is now under the control of the Isle of Man court escrow account, pending the completion of the liquidation process. Broadsheet does things according to the letter of the law.”

A Sharif family lawyer in London welcomed the order by the London High Court. “We are glad the court made the judgment based on facts and vacated any proceedings against the Avenfield apartments,” the lawyer commented.

In 2018, Judge Mohammad Bashir of the Islamabad Accountability Court handed Nawaz Sharif 10 years as jail time for owning assets beyond known income and one year for not cooperating with the NAB.

It was alleged that Nawaz Sharif’s family owned these flats worth around £8 million through ill-gotten means and the court also directed the authorities to confiscate the Avenfield assets. Nawaz Sharif was jailed in July 2018, till he was released on bail.