Accountability court to conclude Sharif's graft cases in 6 weeks

The accountability court on Tuesday was granted a six-week extension by the Pakistan Supreme Court (SC) to conclude former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's corruption cases.

The accountability court judge earlier sought four weeks from the Supreme Court to conclude the hearing on Flagship Investment and Al-Azizia reference, the other two cases against the Sharif family, Daily Pakistan reported.

Initially, the top court had set a six-month deadline to conclude the corruption cases. But, it was extended thrice, with the new date falling on July 10.

Overall, it is the fourth time that the deadline for Sharif's cases has been extended since the trial began in September last year.

The Pakistan SC has also granted six weeks to the accountability court to wrap up the 'assets beyond means' corruption case against former finance minister Ishaq Dar.

The accountability court completed the proceedings in the Avenfield properties case by announcing the verdict against Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and Sharif's son-in-law Captain (retired) Muhammad Safdar on July 6, as per the report.

Sharif was sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment and a fine of eight million pounds was slapped on him in the Avenfield reference case, while his daughter was sentenced to seven years of jail and fined two million pounds.

On the other hand, Safdar was sentenced to one year of imprisonment. He was arrested by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Sunday after he appeared at a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) rally in Rawalpindi.

While Sharif and his UK-based sons, Hussain and Hasan are accused in all the three corruption cases - Avenfield reference, Flagship investment and Al-Azizia reference, Maryam and Safdar are only named in the Avenfield case.

Sharif's sons have been absconding ever since the proceedings began last year.

In contrast, the three-time former Pakistan Prime Minister and Maryam have appeared in most proceedings of the accountability court.

On a related note, Maryam said last week that she and her father will return to Pakistan on July 13.