LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Thursday granted pre-arrest interim bail to opposition leader in Punjab Assembly Hamza Shahbaz and restrained the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) from arresting him.

Hamza appeared before a two-judge bench along with his counsel Azam Nazir Tarar to plead bail petitions in three inquiries being conducted by the NAB.

The counsel argued that the bureau summoned a person in one case but made arrest in another case as it did the same with opposition leader in National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif, also father of the petitioner.

He said the NAB initiated three inquiries against the petitioner including Punjab Saaf Pani Company, Ramzan Sugar Mills and assets beyond means. He also questioned the jurisdiction of the anti-graft watchdog to probe the matters.

However, he said, the petitioner had been appearing before the NAB investigation teams and providing them with all the required information and documents.

Advocate Tarar told the bench that the petitioner was due to appear before the NAB on Friday (today) and there was a possibility that the interrogators might arrest him. Therefore, he asked the bench to grant interim bail to the petitioner and restrain the NAB from arresting him.

After hearing the arguments, the bench comprising Justice Ali Baqar Najafi and Justice Masud Abid Naqvi granted pre-arrest interim bail to Hamza Shahbaz till Nov 13 and restrained the NAB from arresting him. The bench also directed the petitioner to furnish two surety bonds of Rs1 million each. The NAB had also issued summons to Hamza’s brother Salman Shahbaz in inquiries into Ramzan Sugar Mills and assets beyond means. However, he is abroad nowadays.

Published in Dawn, November 2nd, 2018