LAHORE: Leader of Opposition in the Punjab Assembly Hamza Shahbaz on Tuesday filed a petition in the Lahore High Court seeking bail in the Ramzan Sugar Mills case.

Advocate Amjad Pervez filed the bail petition on behalf of Hamza making chairman of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), its director general of Lahore and investigation officer a party.

The petition said NAB initiated the inquiry with malicious intentions and even than failed to find any irregularity against the petitioner. It said the drain in question was built in tehsil Bhawana in public interest as the provincial cabinet and the assembly had approved its construction. It argued that the bureau found no evidence against the petitioner while co-accused in the case former chief minister Shahbaz Sharif had already granted bail by the court.

The petition said that the arrest warrants of Hamza were issued after the charges were framed against him in the case.

A two-judge bench headed by Justice Ali Baqar Najafi will take up the petition on Wednesday (today).

Published in Dawn, December 18th, 2019