Pakistan’s 3-time Premier Sharif acquitted in last corruption case

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) - A court in Pakistan acquitted three-time Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in a corruption case Tuesday in which he had been convicted, clearing another hurdle on his way to compete in upcoming elections, according to court records.

A two-judge bench of the Islamabad High Court, led by Chief Justice Aamer Farooq, granted Sharif’s appeal in the Al-Azizia case, the last in a string of corruption cases against him.

The case is one of the three that stemmed from the Panama Papers whistle-blower scandal in 2016. Sharif was sentenced to seven years in jail by an accountability court in the Al-Azizia case in December 2018.

The case accused the former premier of being unable to justify the source of the funds provided to set up the Al-Azizia Steel Mills and Hill Metal Establishment in Saudi Arabia.

Following his latest acquittal, Sharif, although no longer a convict, has to wait for a new order by the Supreme Court that disqualified him for life from holding public office for hiding assets details in 2017.

The Islamabad High Court late last month acquitted Sharif in another corruption case related to the purchase of four luxury apartments in London.

In a related development, the court also dismissed an appeal against Sharif's acquittal in another corruption case known as the Flagship case, after the National Accountability Bureau withdrew its plea.

He was acquitted in the Flagship case by an anti-corruption court in December 2018.

His latest attempt for power ended with him losing the right to hold office for life after investigations related to the Panama Papers scandal surfaced in 2017.

Just before its tenure ended, the outgoing parliament passed a controversial law to limit the lifetime disqualification of lawmakers to five years, which, according to his lawyers, has cleared Sharif's path to the ballot, slated for Feb. 8.

Sharif is the only premier to serve thrice -- from 1990 to 1992, 1997 to 1999 and 2013 to 2017 -- but he did not complete a single tenure.

Two of his governments -- in 1992 and 1999 – were dismissed by then-President Ghulam Ishaq Khan and former military ruler Gen. Pervez Musharraf, respectively.​​​​​​​