Ex-Pakistani PM sentenced to 10 years for corruption
A Pakistani court convicted former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on charges of corruption, a judgment that will likely dent the former ruling party’s prospects ahead of national elections this month.
Anti-corruption court Justice Mohammad Bashir handed down a 10-year jail sentence and a $10.6 million fine against Sharif, 68. The judge also gave Sharif’s daughter, Maryam, and her husband, Muhammad Safdar, a seven-year and one-year sentence, respectively. Sharif and his children have been in London since June, tending to his ailing wife who is receiving cancer treatment.
The court also ordered the seizure of the family’s London apartments that were at the heart of the case. Sharif will appeal the ruling, said Munawar Duggal, his lawyer.
The verdict is the conclusion of a two-year corruption scandal that engulfed Pakistani politics following the 2016 leak of the so-called Panama Papers, which showed Sharif’s family used offshore accounts to buy high-end London apartments. The former premier was disqualified from the top job by the Supreme Court last July, his third ousting since the 1990s. This year the court also barred him from politics. It came after an anticorruption campaign led by former cricket star and opposition leader Imran Khan, who stands to benefit from Sharif’s conviction. Sharif and his family have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
Despite the corruption allegations, Sharif continued to hold rallies across the country and his image is front and center of his party’s campaign posters ahead of the July 25 vote. He has criticized the judiciary’s handling of his case and has said the nation’s powerful military — which removed Sharif in a bloodless coup in 1999 — has conspired to manipulate the vote against him.
Following the ruling, a jubilant and emotional Khan addressed a political rally in the northern Swat valley. “I am thankful to Allah because after 22 years of struggle I see a powerful person being punished today,” he said. “You should thank God because the looted money belongs to you.”