JOIN USNawaz Sharif's land in Pakistan's Punjab province auctioned
Over 11 acres of land owned by Pakistan's deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif has been auctioned for PKR 112 million in the Punjab province of the country on the court's order.
The Islamabad High Court had declared PML-N supreme leader Sharif a proclaimed offender in September, 2020 due to his failure to join the Toshakhana – gift repository – case. Subsequently, Islamabad Accountability Court allowed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB)'s request to auction the properties of Sharif.
The court also ordered the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) to sell all the shares Sharif owns in various businesses and to deposit their proceeds in the treasury.
"In the light of the court's order, the Revenue Administration Sheikhupura on Thursday auctioned Sharif’s 88.4 kanal (11 acres, 4 marlas) land located in Ferozwatwan, some 80 kms from Lahore, for Rs 112 million," a Punjab government spokesman told PTI on Friday.
He said Rs 7 million was a reserved price for per acre. He said the government would auction other properties of Sharif in the province on the court's order.
During the auction, about six claimants appeared and claimed the ownership of the said land. They requested the revenue officials to stop the auction but they didn't oblige.
Claimant Ashraf Malik said this land he had acquired from Sharif by paying Rs 75 million to him vide a sale agreement of May 29, 2019.
He said the transactions had been made through banking channels but since Sharif was arrested and subsequently left for London, the agreement could not be executed and a suit for execution of the land was pending with the senior civil judge of Sheikhupura.
In the Toshakhana case, Sharif, 71, was accused of 'dishonestly and illegally' relaxing the procedure for acceptance and disposal of gifts vide a Cabinet Division memorandum of 2007.
Three-time premier Sharif has been in London since November 2019 on medical grounds.
The government has declared Sharif an absconder and cancelled his passport. He left the country after the court granted him bail in the Al-Azizia Mills corruption case in which he was undergoing seven years imprisonment.
The LHC had granted Sharif a four-week bail on medical grounds to have his treatment abroad. The government declared him an absconder after he failed to justify prolonging his stay in London.