Pakistan: Nawaz Sharif's sons acquitted in 3 corruption cases

The two sons of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif were cleared by a Pakistani anti-corruption court on Tuesday in three instances involving allegations of corruption, thereby resolving the former prime leader’s family’s legal issues.

In 2018, Hassan and Hussain Nawaz were linked to the Panama Papers corruption cases in Avenfield, Flagship, and Al-Azizia.

The two brothers were labeled proclaimed offenders in 2018 when they declined to cooperate with the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) investigation into the Avenfield Apartment, Al-Azizia, and Flagship Investment cases.

Their father Sharif, the primary accused, was found guilty in the Avenfiled and Al-Azizia corruption cases but found not guilty in the Flagship case, therefore their trials were not held because they were abroad.

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After completing his nearly four-year self-exile, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader and three-time prime minister Sharif returned to his home country of Pakistan in October of last year. In both cases, he contested his conviction, and the Islamabad High Court cleared him. His sons felt empowered by this to come back from London and confront the accusations.

After the court deferred their status as absconders until their final appearance before the court on March 14 and their release on bail, they returned on March 12.

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After the primary accused was found not guilty, they had also requested that the court clear them.

The accountability court heard the acquittal plea on Tuesday. Following the hearing, Judge Nasir Javed Rana found the two not guilty in any of the three instances.

The same court had earlier issued a significant reprieve for Sharif’s sons, rescinding its previous ruling designating them as proclaimed offenders and removing the warrants for their permanent detention.

With his two sons’ acquittal on Tuesday, the cases against him and his family members that began in 2017 after the Supreme Court disqualified him have now concluded, clearing Nawaz Sharif and his whole family.