Ex-Pakistan PM jailed for laundering cash to buy London apartments

The former prime minister of Pakistan has begun a 10-year jail sentence after a court ruled he and his family laundered money to pay for four luxury London apartments.

 

Nawaz Sharif faced the National Accountability Bureau – Pakistan’s anti-corruption court – over claims the he and four members of his family laundered cash in the early 1990s to pay for the properties in Park Lane.

 

Sharif was convicted in his absence as he was in London at the sickbed of his wife. The court also sentenced Sharif’s daughter Maryam Nawaz Sharif, to seven years’ imprisonment for abetting a crime and one year for not co-operating, while his son-in-law Safdar Awan was given one year for not co-operating.

 

The family was fined £10m and ordered the seizure of the properties in Avenfield House, which consist of four apartments which have been knocked into one large home, reportedly worth around £7m.