LAHORE: A Lahore High Court two-judge bench on Wednesday sought a reply from the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on post-arrest bail petitions by Leader of Opposition in Punjab Assembly Hamza Shahbaz in two separate cases of Ramzan Sugar Mills and assets beyond means/money laundering.

At the outset of hearing, Justice Ali Baqar Najafi, the head of the bench, asked the lawyers of Mr Hamza to seek instructions from their client as if he had any reservation on the bench.

The judge noted that previously the petitioner had reservations on the bench and requested it not to hear his pre-arrest bail petition.

Both-advocates Salman Aslam Butt and Amjad Pervaiz said they were already on instructions from the petitioner that he had full confidence in the bench. Mr Butt said the bench could record their statements too.

To another query by the bench, the counsel pointed out that the pre-arrest bail petitions taken up by another bench were decided on merit but dismissed as withdrawn.

At this the bench issued notices to the NAB and sought its replies to the petitions by Jan 13, 2020.

A two-judge headed by Justice Najafi had in May last recused itself from hearing Hamza’s bail pleas after he expressed reservations on it in the light of a controversial media interview of NAB Chairman retired justice Javed Iqbal.

Hamza had told the bench that the bureau chairman claimed the high court bench hearing NAB-related cases had been changed and managed. He said the chairman stated in his interview that he (chairman) would not let “Hamza” hide behind the relief of bail any longer and he would be arrested soon.

Hamza had requested the bench to refer the bail matter to any other bench to protect integrity of the court. Later another bench had taken up the bail petitions of Hamza, however, he had withdrawn it to avoid dismissal on merit and the NAB arrested him from the high court.

In the sugar mills case, Hamza pleaded that the NAB initiated the inquiry with malicious intentions and failed to find any irregularity against him. He said the drain in question was built in Bhawana tehsil in public interest as the provincial cabinet and the assembly had granted an approval for the construction.

In the assets case, the petitioner also challenged the jurisdiction of the NAB to invoke Anti-Money Laundering Act 2010. He said the bureau could not act beyond its ordinance. He said the impugned inquiry was in clear violation of Article 10-A of the Constitution. The petitioner asked the court to set aside the inquiry and release him on bail.

Published in Dawn, December 19th, 2019