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Former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif left an anti-corruption court Monday without being indicted after his children, who are co-defendants in the case, failed to appear.
The court ordered Sharif, his two sons, his daughter and a son-in-law to appear in court on Oct. 9 to face corruption charges.
The children are currently in London with Sharif’s wife – Kulsoom Nawaz – who is undergoing treatment for throat cancer.
Last month, Sharif’s wife won his former parliamentary seat in a by-election. Her victory was expected, since the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party is dominant in the central Lahore constituency. The former prime minister had held the seat since the mid-1980s, when he first entered national politics.
Earlier this year, Pakistan’s High Court ordered Nawaz Sharif to step down from office because he had not reported monthly earnings he received from an overseas company owned by his son. The former prime minister has denied that he received any salary, or knew anything about the payments, which first were discovered after he was elected prime minister for a third time in 2013.
Sharif’s first term as Pakistan’s prime minister, in the early 1990s, also ended abruptly when he was dismissed by presidential decree after being accused of corruption. Back in office a few years later, he was overthrown by a military coup in 1999 and exited to Saudi Arabia along with other family members.
Source: Voice of America