Pakistan Interim Punjab Government Vacates Graft Conviction Of Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif

A provincial government suspended a sentence Tuesday of Pakistan's three-time Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in a corruption case, clearing the way for him to lead his party's campaign for upcoming general elections.

The interim Punjab government suspended a seven-year sentence in what is commonly known as the Al Azizia case, which stemmed from the 2016 Panama Papers.

The local government used its "constitutional powers" to get the suspension under Section 401 of the Code of Criminal Procedure that deals with suspensions, remissions and commutations of sentences, caretaker provincial Information Minister Amir Mir told Anadolu.

Ashtar Ausaf Ali, a former Attorney General, and Sharif's lawyer, told Anadolu that the provincial government has the constitutional right to suspend the sentence of a convict.

Sharif, who returned from London last week after four years in self-imposed exile, was sentenced to seven years and fined $25 million in December 2018 by an accountability court.

Sharif had also been sentenced to seven years in another case related to the purchase of four luxury apartments in London in July 2018. But the Islamabad High Court later suspended the sentence.

It means Sharif will not serve jail time until the Islamabad High Court decides on his appeals in the two cases.

In a related development, an accountability court in Islamabad withdrew Sharif's arrest warrant and granted him bail in a case involving the purchase of luxury cars and state gifts.

Sharif flew from jail, where he was languishing after being convicted in a corruption case, to London for "medical treatment" in 2019.

He was then declared an absconder for failing to appear in court.Meanwhile, the high court has extended Sharif's protective bail until Oct. 26 and adjourned a hearing on his petition seeking reinstatement of his appeals in the two corruption cases.

Elections are slated for the last week of January.

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