An accountability court in Islamabad on Tuesday acquitted former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s sons, Hassan and Hussain, in three corruption references related to the Panama Papers: Flagship, Avenfield Property and Al-Azizia Steel Mills.

Accountability court judge Nasir Javed Rana announced the reserved verdict of the corruption references filed by the National Accountability Bureau after hearing arguments from respondents.

Sons of Nawaz were declared proclaimed offenders in 2018 after they failed to join the investigation in the three references.

Earlier this month, the two through their counsel decided to surrender before the court to face the trial proceedings and sought suspension of the warrants issued against them. They returned to Pakistan last week after an accountability court suspended their warrants till March 14.

The court reopened the references against them after suspending their perpetual arrest warrants and granting them bail against surety bonds of Rs50,000 each.

Qazi Misbah appeared as the counsel for Hussain and Hassan while their pleader Rana Mohammad Irfan was also present.

At the hearing, the defence lawyer argued that the Islamabad High Court had already acquitted former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and her daughter Maryam Nawaz in the same reference. The running of trial against his clients would be “wastage of court time,” he said.

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NAB deputy prosecutor Azhar Maqbol maintained that the decision of the Supreme Court was not a hindrance in this case, adding that this court can announce its verdict.

The main accused has already been acquitted in the three references by the IHC and the prosecution didn’t challenge the verdicts, the prosecutor added.

The court reserved the verdict and later acquitted the two accused while announcing the decision.