ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday acquitted three-time former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in a corruption reference, Sharif’s party said, with the judgment expected to bring him one step closer to be allowed to contest national elections early next year.
The Al-Azizia Steel Mills reference, one of the two graft references that the ex-premier was convicted in, accused Sharif and his family of financial irregularities and money laundering linked to the establishment of the facility in Saudi Arabia.
In 2018, an accountability court had sentenced Sharif to seven years in December 2018 and imposed a fine of £2.5 million in the case. The verdict also disqualified the ex-premier from holding any public office for 10 years.
Sharif, who had traveled to London in Nov. 2019 on medical bail, returned to Pakistan this year after spending four years in self-exile and appealed his convictions in both cases, Al-Azizia and Avenfield references.
On Tuesday, a two-judge bench comprising IHC Chief Justice (CJ) Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb announced the verdict, overturning Sharif’s conviction in the Al-Azizia case.
“By the grace of Allah Almighty my brother and quaid (leader) Muhammad Nawaz Sharif has been vindicated once again,” Sharif’s younger brother and outgoing prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, wrote on X in response to the verdict. 
“The sham cases created to disqualify a sitting Prime Minister are finally meeting their fate.”
Sharif was acquitted in the Avenfield reference on Nov. 29 by the same bench. The former premier was sentenced to 10 years in prison in the case that involved purchases of luxury apartments in London.
Sharif, however, still stands disqualified from holding a public office by the Supreme Court in another case relating to the Panama Papers leaks in 2016, which linked Sharif and his children to several off-shore companies that were used by the family to buy properties in London. 
The top court, in another judgment interpreting Article 62(1)(f) about honesty and trustworthiness, had later ruled that his disqualification was for life.
However, the outgoing Pakistani government this year amended the Elections Act, 2017 and limited the period of disqualification of lawmakers to five years.
Pakistan’s top court is set to take up the matter in January next year and decide whether individuals disqualified under Article 62(1)(f) could contest elections in light of the amendments to the Elections Act.
The South Asian country is scheduled to go to polls on February 8, following months of delay over demarcation of electoral constituencies.
With Sharif’s arch-rival Imran Khan behind bars on graft charges, his supporters expect the three-time former premier to take over the reins of the country once again.
In his message on X, Shehbaz also appeared to support this perception.
“The 7 years wasted were not just a personal loss but a loss of development and prosperity of Pakistan,” he said.
“InshaAllah (God willing) under Mian Nawaz Sharif’s leadership, Pakistan will prosper once again.”