Pakistan high court acquits ex-premier Nawaz Sharif in two corruption cases in which he was convicted in 2018

Islamabad, November 29

The Islamabad High Court on Wednesday acquitted Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in two cases of corruption in which he was convicted in 2018.

Sharif, 73, had challenged in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) his sentences in the Avenfield property and Al-Azizia cases.

A two-member bench comprising Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb announced the verdict after hearing arguments from both sides.

The former premier was convicted in July 2018 and handed 10 years in jail in the Avenfield properties corruption case about assets beyond known income in London. He was sentenced in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills case to seven years in jail in December 2018.

The cases were filed by the National Accountability Bureau, the national anti-corruption watchdog. He had filed an appeal against both convictions.

Sharif went to London in 2019 and could not return and was declared a proclaimed offender in both cases in December 2020 by the IHC. He came back last month after nearly four years of self-exile and his appeals were revived.