Dark Clouds Hover over Nawaz Sharif’s Return as Pak Supreme Court Restores Corruption Cases

Pakistan is in the grip of another constitutional crisis as the nation’s Supreme Court on Friday ordered the corruption cases against public office holders to be restored which were earlier withdrawn after amendments were made to Pakistan’s accountability laws during the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) regime.

The announcement comes weeks before much-anticipated return of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif to Pakistan, as reported by CNN-News18, who was ousted from office on several charges of graft.

Chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial, justice Ijazul Ahsan and justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah in 2-1 verdict admitted a petition filed by former prime minister Imran Khan against the amendments made to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

Imran Khan, in his petition, claimed that the amendments legitimised corruption and benefitted influential people. People familiar with the developments told CNN-News18 that all politicians, including Nawaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari will face previous trials.

Nawaz Sharif is in self-imposed exile in London since November 2019 due to health reasons. He was disqualified by the Pakistan Supreme Court and barred from holding any public office in 2017 and was again barred from holding public office for life 2018 after a probe ordered by the Supreme Court on Panama Papers revelations which found him guilty of not disclosing money from his son Hussain Nawaz’s Dubai-based firm.

Pakistan chief justice Bandial and justice Ahsan declared that the plea filed by Imran Khan is maintainable.

The Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) coalition government made amendments to the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) 1999 which reduced the term of the NAB chairman and prosecutor general to three years. It also curbed the NAB’s jurisdiction to cases involving over PKR 500 million and transferred all pending inquiries, investigations and trials to the relevant authorities.

Justice Shah, who opposed the verdict, called for a full court to hear the case, referring to the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) law (which has now been frozen) but CJP Bandial said his retirement was near and the case has been pending before the court for at least 14 months.

The Supreme Court earlier this month said that something “short and sweet” would be released soon which could have been a possible reference to this judgement.