Islamabad High Court 

ISLAMABAD: A divisional bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) will resume hearing former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's plea seeking to stop the indictment proceedings against him in an accountability court.

At the last hearing on October 25, the IHC bench comprising Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kiyani and Justice Aamer Farooq issued notices to the federal government over the petition and adjourned the case until November 2 (today).

Nawaz, through his representative Zafir Khan, has submitted three petitions in the IHC challenging the accountability court?s October 19 decision to indict him in the Avenfield properties and Azizia Steel Mills reference.

He was indicted in the third and last ? Flagship Investment Ltd ? reference on October 20.

The accountability court is hearing corruption references filed by the National Accountability Bureau against Nawaz and his family members, as well as Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, in light of the Supreme Court's order in the Panama Papers case.

In his petition, Nawaz has pleaded the IHC to declare the October 19 decision illegal and order the accountability court to combine the three references against him into one.

IHC seeks response from federal government on Nawaz's plea against corruption indictment

Former PM pleads court to halt accountability court proceedings until three references are merged into one

He has also pleaded that there should be one trial on one charge instead of separate cases.

At the last hearing of the accountability court on October 26, Nawaz's counsel Khawaja Harris informed the judge that his client has challenged the indictment in the IHC which will hear the case on Nov 2 (today). 

The judge remarked that Harris should plead his client's case on November 2 and then adjourned the accountability court hearing until November 3 (Friday).

Similar plea in Supreme Court

On October 13, the former prime minister filed a similar plea in the Supreme Court seeking the quashing of 'concurrent' corruption references against him.

Nawaz Sharif pleads SC to file one corruption reference instead of three

Petition terms illegal filling of three similar corruption references; calls on SC to halt trials until single reference is filed

The plea asked the Supreme Court to halt the accountability court proceedings of the three references against the Sharif family until a single reference is filed.

The plea, filed by Nawaz's legal team under Article 184 (3) of the Constitution, states that Section 9 (a) (5) of the National Accountability Ordinance holds that the reference against possession of assets beyond known sources of income should be one and not spread over several references.

The petition is yet to be taken up by the apex court.

The references

The NAB has in total filed three references against the Sharif family and one against Finance Minister Ishaq Dar in the accountability court, in light of the Supreme Court's orders in the Panama Papers case verdict of July 28.

Court approves Maryam, Safdar's bail; separates cases of Nawaz's sons

The hearing has been adjourned until Oct 13 when Nawaz, Maryam and Safdar are expected to be indicted

The anti-graft body was given six weeks, from the date of the apex court's order, to file the reference in an accountability court while the accountability court was granted six months to wrap up the proceedings.

The references against the Sharif family pertain to the Azizia Steel Mills and Hill Metals Establishment, their London properties and over dozen offshore companies owned by the family.

Court approves Maryam, Safdar's bail; separates cases of Nawaz's sons

Maryam and Safdar are only nominated in the London properties reference. At an earlier hearing, the court also approved Maryam and Safdar's bail in the Avenfiled properties case and ordered them to submit surety bonds worth Rs5 million each.

Safdar was also directed to take the court's permission before leaving the country from now on. The judge also provided a copy of the reference ? spread over 53 volumes ? to Maryam and Safdar.

NAB's Rawalpindi branch prepared two references regarding the Azizia Steel Mills and Hill Metals Establishment, and the nearly dozen companies owned by the Sharif family.

Its Lahore branch prepared a reference on the Sharif family's Avenfield apartments in London and another against Finance Minister Ishaq Dar for owning assets beyond his known sources of income.

If convicted, the accused may face up to 14 years imprisonment and lifelong disqualification from holding public office including the freezing of bank accounts and assets.