Supreme Court (SC) on Monday has directed to complete trial of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Flagship Investments and Al-Azizia references in six weeks.

The hearing was carried out by a three-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar during which, ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s lawyer Khawaja Harris requested to extend the duration of the cases for three months.

However, the court rejected his appeal and ordered to conclude the cases in six weeks.

On the other hand, accountability court has deferred the hearing of NAB references for an hour due to unavailability of Khawaja Harris as he is busy in SC.

It is to be mentioned here that the cases against Sharifs were stemmed from the Panama Papers leak that disclosed expensive and undeclared property owned by the Sharif family in London.
It is to be mentioned here that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz and Captain Safdar were convicted and sentenced to prison in absentia for ten years, seven years and one year respectively, in Avenfield verdict that is likely to further disrupt an already chaotic campaign for national elections this month.

Maryam Nawaz and Captain (r) Safdar, who were candidates for the forthcoming general elections were also disqualified from contesting elections for 10 years each.

The sentence and a fine of 8 million pounds, or $10.6 million, came almost a year after Supreme Court removed Sharif from office and less than five months after the court barred him from holding office for life.
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