... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf, then by the courts..., being convicted and sentenced to prison, saying the entire judicial process was severely compromised.
At a presser in Lahore alongside the top leadership of the PML-N, Maryam played a secretly recorded video that she claimed featured a conversation between Nasir Butt, a man she described as a loyal fan of her father, and Accountability Judge Arshad Malik, who had in December last year sentenced Nawaz to seven years in jail in the al-Azizia Steel Mills corruption reference and acquitted him in the Flagship Investment case. The presser comes exactly a year after Nawaz and Maryam were handed prison terms in the Avenfield reference.
Maryam alleged that the judge had contacted Nasir and told him that he was feeling "guilt" and "having nightmares" after announcing the "unjust" verdict against Nawaz, so he invited Nasir for a meeting at his residence, where the video was recorded.
In the video, which she termed as "divine help" for her family, Maryam claimed that Judge Malik had pointed out the flaws in Nawaz's corruption trial that he wanted to be conveyed to Nawaz's lawyers. The judge acknowledged that he had been "blackmailed" and "pressured" into issuing a judgement against the PML-N supremo, Maryam claimed.
The veracity of the contents of the video or any of the claims made by Maryam have not been independently verified by Dawn.com.
She claimed that Judge Malik told Nasir that he had been taken to an unspecified place by some people ‐ whom Maryam did not name ‐ who left him alone in a room and played for him a "personal" video of his on a TV screen nearby. Maryam refused to disclose what was in the alleged video, but claimed this video of an "immoral" nature was used to "blackmail" the judge into issuing an adverse judgement against Nawaz.
"Gigli"
She quoted the judge as saying that he even contemplated "suicide" because of the pressure he was under. He was also surprised to learn how "they" had managed to get a hold of a 10 years old video, she added.
Maryam claimed that the judge could be heard saying in the video that Nawaz was convicted even though "there is no allegation of financial corruption" in the case. "There is no evidence that any money was taken from any department," she quoted Judge Malik as saying.