Sharif case: plea for death penalty admitted

ISLAMABAD, JUNE 2. A The Pakistan Accountability Court today formally charged the deposed Prime Minister, Mr. Nawaz Sharif in a corruption case, even as the Sindh High Court admitted an appeal by the prosecution, seeking conversion of his life term into death penalty in the hijacking and terrorism case.

Mr. Sharif was present in the Accountability Court which held its sitting in the heavily fortified, historic, Attock fort, some 80 kms from here, when charges were framed against him in connection with the private purchase of a Russian MI-6 helicopter in 1993.

The deposed Premier and his former Accountability Bureau chief, Mr. Saif-Ur Rehman, who was also named in the case, had denied the charges in the court on May 12.

The prosecution said Mr. Sharif had not mentioned the purchase of the helicopter in his income tax returns. There are 22 prosecution witnesses in the case. Statements of three of them could not be recorded today and the Judge, Mr. Farooq Latif fixed June 9 as the next date of hearing.

In a related development, the Sindh High Court in Karachi admitted for hearing the prosecution's plea that the life imprisonment awarded to Mr. Sharif in the hijacking and terrorism case be enhanced to death penalty. The court also admitted another prosecution appeal against the acquittal of six others including Mr. Sharif's brother, Mr. Shahbaz Sharif, in the case by the anti-terrorism court.

The three-judge bench headed by chief Justice, Syed Saeed Ashhad, issued notices to Mr. Sharif and the six acquitted persons.

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Section  : International
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