*ISLAMABAD – Nawaz Sharif has made a plea to the Islamabad High Court overhis pending appeal in the Avendield Reference verdict.*
*He pleaded the Islamabad High Court (IHC) to take up an appeal filed byhim and members of his family seeking suspension of their sentence in theAvenfield properties case at the earliest.*
Incarcerated Sharif through his counsel Khawaja Haris moved a plea seekingearly hearing of the appeal against the accountability court’s July 6verdict.
The lawyer contended that a high court bench passed an order on Aug 20,fixing the appeal seeking suspension of the sentence of the imprisonedmembers of the Sharif family after summer vacations.
He said the Supreme Court has granted accountability court judge ArshadMalik six weeks’ time to wind up the two pending references against theformer premier. He, therefore, will not be able to present his arguments onthe main appeal challenging the Avenfield verdict, he added.
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Mr Haris requested that the high court may take up the petition seekingsuspension of his clients’ sentence until final decision on their appeal atthe earliest.
On July 6, an accountability court had sentenced Nawaz to a total of elevenyears in prison and imposed a £8 million fine in the corruption reference.His daughter Maryam was sentenced to eight years with a £2 million finewhile Safdar was given a one-year sentence.
Khawaja Harif filed an appeal on July 16 challenging the verdict againstthe Sharif family and requested its suspension till IHC’s adjudication inthe case. A similar appeal was filed by lawyer Amjad Pervaiz on behalf ofMaryam and Safdar.
