Sharif family to face trial in 2 more NAB cases inside Adiala Jail

The legal proceedings of the remaining two National Accountability Bureau (NAB) reference cases against former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his family will take place in Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi.

Geo TV quoted a notification issued by Pakistan's Ministry of Law and Justice on Friday that read, "In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (b) of section 16 of the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999 (XVIII of 1999), the federal government is please to specify the Central Jail Adiala, Rawalpindi, to be the place where the Accountability Court-I, Islamabad shall sit for trial of References No. 18/2017 and 19/2017 against Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and others."

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

The NAB on Friday night took Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz into custody in connection to the Avenfield reference case after their flight landed at Lahore's Allama Iqbal International Airport at 8:48 p.m. (local time) amidst high drama.

Their passports were confiscated and subsequently boarded onto a small chartered plane bound for Islamabad International Airport (IIA), The Dawn reported. The plane landed at Islamabad International Airport at around 10:35 pm (local time), following which the father-daughter duo were taken to Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi in separate personnel carriers escorted by police convoys, Geo TV reported.

According to a notification issued by the Islamabad administration, the rest house at the Sihala Police Training College has been turned into a sub-jail for Sharif and Maryam with immediate effect until further orders.

Geo TV quoted sources saying that the authorities decided to keep the father-daughter duo at Adiala Jail for the time being.

Sharif and Maryam were surrounded by a huge wave of NAB officials and Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), as their flight landed at the Lahore airport. The father-daughter duo was formally arrested after the immigration.

On July 6, the father-daughter duo were convicted in absentia in the Avenfield reference case on July 6 by the Accountability Court. While Sharif has been given 10 years of imprisonment and slapped with a fine of eight million pounds, Maryam was awarded eight years in jail and fined two million pounds.

The case pertains to the purchase of Avenfield apartments through offshore companies, the beneficial owner of which was Maryam.

The father-daughter duo was in London to meet Sharif's ailing wife Kulsoom Nawaz, who is undergoing treatment for cancer.

Earlier in April, Pakistan's Supreme Court disqualified the three-time former prime minister from contesting elections for the rest of his life because of his corruption cases as revealed in the Panama Papers leaks case.

Sharif had stepped down as prime minister in July last year after the apex court's ruling.