- Accuses PML-N leadership of offering him bribes and trying to pressure him ahead of Al-Azizia reference verdict
- Says legal action must be initiated against all individuals involved in this conspiracy
ISLAMABAD, July 7: Accountability Court judge Arshad Malik on Sunday accused the Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) leadership of offering him bribes and trying to pressure him ahead of the December 24 Al-Azizia reference verdict against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.
Refuting the controversial claims made by PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz in a press conference a day earlier, the accountability judge alleged that the party leadership “had gone as far as threatening him to deliver a verdict in Nawaz’s favour”.
In a press release, Malik clarified his stance and confirmed that deposed premier Nawaz was found guilty on the basis of evidence.
“The video shown in Maryam Safdar’s press conference is contrary to facts and reality. It was an attempt to discredit me and my judgments by piecing together snippets of conversations on different topics and at different times,” he said.
“Over the course of the hearings, I was repeatedly offered bribes by people acting as representatives of the Sharif family. I remained unmoved and then they threatened me of dire consequences.”
The accountability court judge asserted that his verdict against Nawaz Sharif was free of any bias and he had not acted under any sort of pressure.
“Indirectly or directly, there neither any pressure on me nor was there any element of greed. I convicted Nawaz Sharif on the basis of evidence in the Al-Azizia case and acquitted him in the Flagship case. If there had been any such thing, I would not have ruled against Nawaz in one case and in his favour in the other,” said Malik.
He said Maryam’s press conference was an attempt to gain political mileage by maligning the judiciary. “My decisions were based on facts and the law. The press conference was just an attempt to make my decisions controversial for political gains.”
“The videos are fake and based on lies. Legal action must be initiated against all individuals involved in this conspiracy.”
On July 6, Maryam Nawaz Sharif revealed a ‘damning’ video that purportedly showed judge Malik admitting that he had been ‘blackmailed’ into convicting jailed ex-premier Nawaz despite the fact there was no evidence of corruption against him in Al-Azizia reference. The ‘explosive video’, which has yet to be verified independently, was shown to media persons by Maryam at a news conference in Lahore. Senior PML-N leaders including Shehbaz Sharif, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Ahsan Iqbal were present on the occasion.
In the video, the judge is reportedly having a conversation with a man – named Nasir Butt – who Maryam claimed to be a PML-N worker. The judge can be heard telling Butt that he had been ‘blackmailed’ using a personal video 10 years earlier.-Agencies
