Pakistan ex-PM Sharif sentenced to 10 years for graft

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was sentenced in absentia to 10 years in prison by a corruption court in Islamabad, lawyers said, dealing a serious blow to his party’s troubled campaign ahead of July 25 elections.

Sharif was ousted from his third term as prime minister by the Supreme Court last year following a corruption investigation.

“(Sharif ) has been awarded 10 years imprisonment and an £8mil (RM42.8mil) fine” over the purchase of highend properties in London, defence lawyer Mohammad Aurangzeb said.

Prosecution lawyer Sardar Muzaffar Abbas also said that the court had ordered the properties, in London’s exclusive Mayfair, be confiscated by the federal government.

Sharif is currently in London, where his wife is receiving medical treatment for cancer.

The verdict immediately raised questions over whether he would return to Pakistan, with analysts saying he was in a “difficult position” ahead of the election.

“If Sharif does not come back, his party is over,” said political analyst Rasool Bukhsh Rais.

“If he comes back, he will have to fight cases and he will be suffering a lot – but in this way he will save his party.”

Sharif is banned from politics for life and had handed the presidency of his ruling Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz (PMLN) party over to his brother Shahbaz Sharif, who is leading the party’s campaign ahead of Pakistan’s secondever democratic transition of power.

“We reject this decision,” Shahbaz told a televised press conference in Lahore shortly after the verdict.

“It is based on injustices. This decision will be written in black words in history.”

The Sharif clan and their supporters have repeatedly denied the allegations of corruption, suggesting Sharif is the victim of a conspiracy driven by the powerful military, which has ruled Pakistan for roughly half of its 70year history.

Sharif, who at times during his premiership appeared to seek a better relationship with Pakistan’s archenemy India, has since repeatedly accused the military of wanton political interference.

Journalists and activists have spoken of pressure by the military to censor positive coverage of the PMLN campaign amid allegations of a “silent coup”. — AFP