National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Saturday submitted its reply in the Islamabad High Court (IHC), requesting the court to declare pleas of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz and Captain (r) Safdar - seeking suspension of the verdict in the Avenfield properties reference - non-maintainable and turn them down.

In its written, clause-wise reply, an 11-page document was submitted by the anti-graft body’s deputy prosecutor general. NAB also raised objections in the suspensions of sentences handed to Sharif, his daughter and son-in-law. It said that the anti-graft body was not initially made a party in the pleas.

NAB, in its written reply, said that the bureau had already proved the charges against all the accused, while the accountability court also detailed reasons for sentencing in its verdict. It said that there were no legal flaws in the court’s verdict, noting that the appeals against the verdict are already fixed for hearing after the summer break.

The accused was responsible for providing proof of their innocence after the prosecution had presented evidence of their guilt. It added that the accused did not present anything in their defence.

The former PM, his daughter and son-in-law were convicted in Avenfield reference on July 6 by an accountability judge Mohammad Bashir. The Sharifs had challenged their convictions in the IHC, highlighting the legal flaws in the Avenfield case judgment and asking for the accountability court's verdict to be declared null and void.