[Iran Press TV Latest] A high court in Pakistan has dismissed a case of tax evasion filed against former premier Nawaz Sharif which could have sent him behind bars for 14 years. The court ruling came on Friday to revoke Sharif's earlier conviction of not paying taxes on the alleged purchase of a helicopter used during an election campaign in the 1990's.
Pakistan's national accountability court in 2000 sentenced him to a 14-year jail term and barred Sharif from holding any public office for 21 years as well as a penalty of 50 million rupees (625,000 US dollars).
On Friday, Sharif's lawyer Khwaja Haris told the court that the case against his client was politically-motivated, adding that Sharif had got the helicopter on lease for his party's election campaign and not for personal use.
Today's court order is the second ruling in the past two months to lift the ban on Sharif's ability to run for public office. On May 26, Pakistan's Supreme Court said Sharif was eligible to hold public office.
The former premier leads the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) -- the second largest political party in Pakistan -- and is expected to run in the upcoming parliamentary elections.
Overthrown by former army chief Gen. Parvez Musharraf in 1999, Nawaz Sharif was exiled to Saudi Arabia in 2000, only a few days after his conviction.
The two-time premier has already filed nomination papers to run for a vacant National Assembly seat.