By Sajjad HussainIslamabad, Oct 13 (PTI) PakistanÂ’s ousted prime ministerNawaz Sharif today filed a petition in the Supreme Court,challenging the filing of multiple graft cases against him bythe country's anti-corruption watchdog.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has registeredthree cases of corruption and money laundering against 67-year-old Sharif, his family members and Finance Minister IshaqDar in the Islamabad Accountability Court.
The cases were registered weeks after the Supreme Courtdisqualified Sharif as prime minister on July 28 in the PanamaPapers scandal.
In the petition, SharifÂ’s lawyer Muhammad Kassim Mir Jatrequests the court to order NAB to file a consolidated case asthe filing of three separate cases is "illegal, and violativeof law and the Constitution, besides being violative of his(Sharif's) fundamental rights".
He maintained that the multiple cases were "violative ofhis (Sharif's) fundamental rights" under the constitution asall the cases deal with one accusation about making assetsbeyond known means of income.
"The filing of multiple references against an accused forthe same alleged offence exposes him to double punishment,”according to the petition.
The petition also urges the court to suspend proceedingsin the accountability court.
It is so far not clear when the Supreme Court would takeup the petitions but any intervention at this stage would be amajor relief for Sharif.
The accountability court today postponed the indictmentof Sharif, his daughter and son-in-law in the Panama Paperscase till October 19 after the PML-N lawyers and supporterstried to barge into the courtroom. PTI SHPMS.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.