Banned Pakistan PM Sharif given 10 years for corruption

PAKISTAN’S ousted prime minister has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for corruption, badly denting the chances of the country’s leading political party less than three weeks before a general election.

An anti-graft court sentenced Nawaz Sharif in his absence for failing to declare four London flats or the funds used to buy them.

Maryam Nawaz Sharif – Sharif ’s daughter and political heir – was sentenced to seven years, and Safdar Awan, his son-in-law, received one year. The family had denied wrongdoing and are expected to appeal.

Judge Mohammad Bashir also fined Sharif £8 million, while his daughter was fined £2million. He ordered their properties in London confiscated. Sharif ’s conviction is the latest blow to his Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz party and comes during a tense general election campaign.

A giant of Pakistan’s politics for decades, Sharif had been prime minister three times before he was disqualified from office last year after the Panama Papers leak linked his family to offshore companies. He has labelled the trial a witch hunt driven by the military as it tries to undermine civilian rule.

Yesterday’s verdict will boost the chances of Imran Khan, the former cricketer, who has stood on an anticorruption platform and campaigned for Sharif to be prosecuted. “Now this is your duty to reject corrupt politicians in the elections,” he said.

Mr Sharif watched the verdict from London, reportedly from inside one of the controversial Park Lane flats.