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Nawaz Sharif to serve 14 years in gaol |
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July 23, 2000
ATTOCK FORT, Pakistan (AP) - An anti-corruption court sentenced deposed premier Nawaz Sharif on Saturday to 14 years in jail on a charge of tax evasion and disqualified him from politics for 21 years. Sharif, who is currently serving two concurrent life terms on charges of hijacking and terrorism, also was fined 20 million rupees (dlrs 370,00). Sharif said he was undecided about whether to appeal. Saif-ur Rehman, Sharif's former anti-corruption chief, was acquitted of corruption in the same case. Rehman had been charged with corruption in connection with the purchase of the helicopter. It wasn't immediately clear whether Rehman, who faces other corruption charges, would be released. "I was expecting the verdict," said a defiant Sharif after the verdict and sentence was announced. "It is because of a personal vendetta that such a great injustice is being done to me." Special anti-corruption courts were set up by Pakistan's military rulers, who threw out Sharif's government in a bloodless coup last October, charging unbridled corruption and economic mismanagement. Sharif says he is innocent. He accused Pakistan's military ruler Gen. Pervez Musharraf of crafting laws to keep him out of politics and in jail. "Every law has been made to get rid of me," he said. "This shows that Musharraf wants to single me out." Held in the heavily fortified 16th century Attock Fort, the anti-corruption court found Sharif guilty of falsifying his tax returns by neglecting to list a newly purchased helicopter among his assets. Sharif, who faces several other charges of corruption, has accused the military government of waging a witchhunt against him and his family. He has also sharply criticized the military government's National Accountability Bureau and law under which he was tried. The law, which established the National Accountability Bureau, gives its lawyers and investigators sweeping powers of investigation and arrest. The law also allows the military government to hold a person suspected of corruption or misuse of power for 90 days before laying charges. The government's prosecutor general and author of the law Farooq Adam defends the law as necessary to clean up Pakistan's deeply corrupt system. Successive civilian governments have been dismissed in Pakistan because of corrupt practices. The military takeover in October was widely accepted in Pakistan because of the army's promise to root out corruption and revive the economy. Since then scores of politicians, bureaucrats and leading businessmen have been arrested. Some have been charged and others are in jail while investigations into allegations of wrongdoings are investigated. Adam said Sharif's trial was fair and transparent. "This was a free and fair trial," he said. |
