TERENCE J SIGAMONY

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court Wednesday issued notices to former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Safdar on National Accountability Bureau (NAB) appeal, which challenged Islamabad High Court's order that suspended Accountability Court's verdict and granted bail to the accused.

A three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, hearing the NAB appeal said they would look into the matter of issuing notice to Captain Muhammad Safdar (retd) later on.

The Chief Justice inquired from Special Prosecutor General (SPG) NAB Akram Qureshi whether he would press on the bail issue of Captain Safdar (retd). Justice Saqib further asked whether a person who had been awarded a one-year sentence can be granted bail. The SPG sought some time to respond to this query. The court, therefore, deferred the issuance of notice to Captain Safdar (retd).

The SPG at the outset of proceedings gave a brief history of the case and highlighted the 'flaws' in the Islamabad High Court's order. He explained that in provision of granting bail and suspension of sentence in view of the NAB special law, the application of Code of Criminal Procedure has been ousted.

He said the bail under the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO), 1999 is granted only in the cases of hardship, which includes that the convict is seriously ill or for many years of his sentence his appeal has not been fixed for hearing. He said the high court although mentioned this aspect in its order it did not meet its requirements. He said the findings were given on the facts and the merits of appeal.

The Chief Justice observed that there is a judgement of the Supreme Court [the Soba Khan vs the State] that the high court while suspending the sentence and granting bail would not go into the merits of the case. He asked from the SPG whether there is any precedent that 43 pages were written on the bail granting order.

Akram Qureshi responded that in his 46 years of practice, he did not notice a single case where the lengthy order is passed on granting bail. He said that there are glaring defects and infirmities in the IHC order as it stated that the "AC judgment may ultimately not be sustainable."

The IHC's division bench comprising Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb on 19-09-2018 allowed the writ petitions of Nawaz Sharif, Maryam Safdar and Captain Muhammad Safdar (retd) against the Accountability Court judgement in the Avenfield reference.

Accountability Court Judge Muhammad Bashir on July 06, 2018 in the Avenfield Apartments case had awarded a 10-year imprisonment sentence to former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and £8 million fine in the corruption reference, while his daughter Maryam was sentenced to seven years in jail with a £2 million fine and son-in-law Captain Muhammad Safdar (retd) was given a one-year sentence without any fine.

The NAB application said that the IHC September 19, 2018 order has caused serious prejudice to the cause of the anti-graft body and may have very adverse effects on its case in the main appeal pending before the Islamabad High Court.

The IHC ought to have decided the question of maintainability before hearing and considering the writ petitions on merits. However, the division bench of the IHC failed to appreciate and consider various and prominent judgments of the apex court.

The NAB submitted that the constitutional jurisdiction of the high court under the Article 199 of the Constitution can only be exercised when there is no other adequate or efficacious remedy.

The IHC ignored the fact that the properties mentioned in the formal charge were directly concerning the respondent-convict and other accused through their independent business sources and ventures such as Neilsen, Nescol, Coomber, and Capital FZE companies.

The hearing of the case was adjourned till 6th November.