LAHORE Dec 05 (TNS): Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday departed for London with his daughter Maryam Nawaz to see his ailing wife Kulsoom Nawaz undergoing treatment for throat cancer at a London hospital.
Sharif will stay in the British capital for five days and will return home to appear before an accountability court for the hearing into corruption references filed against him.
A day earlier, accountability judge Muhammad Bashir granted the former premier exemption from personal appearance for a week, but dismissed the same plea by his daughter Maryam Nawaz. Sharif has been granted exemption from December 5 to December 12.
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday dismissed a petition filed by the former prime minister for merging all the references filed against him into one.
Sharif had approached the high court, challenging the accountability court’s Nov 8 verdict that rejected his request to merge the references against him into one to conduct a joint trial.
On Nov 8, the accountability court’s Judge Muhammad Bashir rejected the Sharif’s application for joint trial and formally framed charges against him in each of the three references.
Maryam and her husband Captain (retd) Safdar have been named in a single corruption reference pertaining to the Sharif family’s London properties. Whereas, Sharif and his two sons – Hassan and Hussain – have been nominated in three references related to the London flats, Al-Aziza Steel Mills and Hill Metals Establishment.
