The Islamabad High Court on Thursday rejected pleas by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif against the verdicts announced in the Al Azizia Steel Mills and Avenfield apartments references.
IHC judges Justice Umar Farooq and Justice Mohsin Akhtar pronounced a nine-page judgment that was earlier reserved.
The verdict means that the judgment pronounced by the accountability court for the cases has been upheld.
According to the IHC judgment, Nawaz is an absconder and so “there was no choice but to dismiss the pleas”.
The judgment observed that if Nawaz returns or is caught, an application for a renewal of appeals can be filed.
Accountability court judge Mohammad Bashir had on July 6, 2018, convicted Nawaz in the Avenfield reference and sentenced him to 10 years in prison.
However, an IHC division bench comprising Chief Justice Minallah and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb suspended the sentence in the reference.
Subsequently, accountability judge Mohammad Arshad Malik had on Dec 24, 2018 convicted Sharif in the Al Azizia reference and sentenced him to seven years imprisonment, besides imposing fines of Rs1.5 billion and $25 million.
He was acquitted in a joint reference — the Flagship investment reference.