Judge hearing cases against Sharif family gets three year extension

Judge hearing cases against Sharif family gets three year extension

Islamabad (Staff Report): The federal government on Thursday approved three years extension in the tenure of Accountability Court-I Judge Mohammad Bashir.

According to a notification issued by the Ministry of Law and Justice, Judge Muhammad Bashir will now retire on March 12, 2021.

The move comes a day after Supreme Court (SC) took suo motu notice of the delay in reappointment of the accountability court judge, who is hearing the Panamagate case against Sharif family.

The law secretary had informed the Supreme Court that the term of Judge Bashir will be extended before its expiry.

Judge Bashir has been conducting the proceedings since September last year when the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) filed three corruption references against Nawaz and his family and one against then-finance minister Ishaq Dar in light of the Supreme Court's verdict in the Panama Papers case.

Judge Bashir was appointed to the accountability court in 2012. In 2015, the federal government, on recommendations of the IHC, extended his tenure for three years.