Maryam Nawaz to appear in court on 19 July in connection with high-profile Avenfield Apartments graft case

Islamabad: Jailed former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s daughter Maryam Nawaz has been summoned by an anti-corruption court to appear before it on 19 July for allegedly submitting a fake trust deed in the high-profile Avenfield Apartments case. [caption id=“attachment_3803067” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Maryam Nawaz. AP[/caption] The Avenfield properties case was one of three filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) last year in light of the Supreme Court’s verdict against Sharif in the Panama Papers case. The case pertains to the ownership of the Sharif family’s apartments at Avenfield House, London. Accountability court Judge Muhammad Bashir issued the notice to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice-President Maryam, asking the 45-year-old political leader to appear in court on  19 July. According to the NAB, Pakistan’s anti-corruption watchdog, the trust deed Maryam presented in the Avenefield case was fake and have requested a trial against the PML-N leader for fraudulent documents. In 2017, a Pakistani team investigating former prime minister Sharif alleged illegal offshore properties - flagged in the Panama Papers. Last year in September, the Islamabad High Court suspended the sentences for Maryam and her husband Captain (retired) M Safdar in the Avenfield corruption case. On 6 July, after four extensions in the original six-month deadline to conclude all three cases, the accountability court announced its verdict in the Avenfield case. Sharif, his daughter Maryam and son-in-law Safdar were sentenced to 11 years, eight years and one year, respectively, in prison. Maryam and Safdar were accused in the Avenfield corruption case only.