3 ex-PMs appear in same court for cases

Three former prime ministers of Pakistan are facing corruption and misuse of authority references filed by the country’s top anti-graft body, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), in its court in Islamabad.

Accountability Court No. 2 is hearing cases against former premiers Nawaz Sharif, Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani and Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, and it often happens that all three of them arrive on the same day and appear before the judge on their turn.

In such situations, the police and law-enforcement agencies have to take extra security measures in order to ensure the security of the leaders.

Sharif, Gilani cases

Among the three ex-PMs, three-time prime minister Sharif can be singled out as the one who has appeared more than 100 times in the Accountability Court, since the Panama case hearing began last year.

He is currently facing two cases, Al-Azizia and Flagship, in Judge Muhammad Arshad Malik’s Accountability Court No. 2.

According to legal experts, a decision against Sharif is likely before November 17, which is the deadline given by the Supreme Court to the Accountability Court for concluding the cases. Sharif was convicted in the Avenfield properties corruption case by Accountability Court No. 1 in July this year.

Pakistan People’s Party’s leader Gilani has been embroiled in a case since 2013, involving the illegal appointment of his close aide Tauqeer Sadiq as chairman of the Oil & Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA).

The other accused persons are former Secretary of the Ministry of Information Technology (IT) Farooq Awan; former principal information officer of Press Information Department (PID) Muhammad Saleem; former CEO USF Riaz Asher Siddiqui; CEO Midas Inam Akbar; former Company Secretary USF, Syed Hasan; and former PA to Public Relation Officer, Ministry of IT, Muhammad Hanif.