SC rejects Nawaz Sharif’s plea to merge corruption cases yet again

Supreme Court (SC) rejected on Wednesday an appeal filed by deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, seeking to club three corruption cases filed by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against him into one.

Hearing the appeal, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Saqib Nisar rejected Sharif's application, local media reported. Sharif had sought to club the Avenfield properties, Flagship Investments and Al-Azizia Mills into one.

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The petition had stated that Section 9 (a) (5) of the National Accountability Ordinance maintains that assets references should be considered under one asset references, no matter the number of possessions of assets beyond known sources of income.

Shairf's plea to merge the references into one has earlier been rejected multiple times. Last year, Islamabad High Court had also rejected Sharif's plea into clubbing the references into one. Sharif had then filed an application to the apex court registry, which too rejected his petition. Sharif had then appealed to CJP.

The deposed prime minister has been indicted in all three references last year in October. Sharif had also been disqualified from his post as prime minister by the SC, following the Panama Paper revelation of his involvement in offshore companies.