Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who has experienced a series of legal victories since returning from exile, received another significant relief on Tuesday as Pakistan's national anti-graft body closed a major corruption investigation involving him and his daughter, Maryam Nawaz.
This development is noteworthy in the context of the upcoming February 8 general elections in Pakistan, where Nawaz Sharif, the leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party, is considered a frontrunner for an unprecedented fourth term as prime minister.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) announced the closure of a substantial corruption probe known as the Sharif Trust case, involving the 74-year-old former prime minister, Maryam Nawaz, and other family members. The investigation, initiated in 2000, focused on allegations of illicitly receiving funds amounting to millions of rupees in the Sharif Trust. The Sharif family faced accusations of misappropriation and improper use of funds for property under the Trust's name.
Nawaz Sharif's return from self-imposed exile in the UK in October 2023 has seen him acquitted in the Avenfield and Al-Azizia cases, both of which resulted in convictions of 10 and seven years, respectively.
In a significant development on Monday, Nawaz Sharif became eligible to contest the upcoming general elections after the Supreme Court overturned a lifetime ban on lawmakers under Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution, which pertains to honesty and righteousness.
Nawaz Sharif is set to contest on two national assembly seats, one in Lahore and another in Mansahra. The decision of the Supreme Court to lift the lifetime disqualification has been praised by the PML-N, with spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb calling it a step toward restoring constitutional sanity. She emphasized that history has vindicated Nawaz Sharif, and the provision of lifetime disqualification was created to exclude him from politics permanently. Aurangzeb suggested holding the architects of this provision accountable for tampering with the Constitution, describing it as a grave offense in the Islamic republic.
(With Agency Inputs)
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