Court stops NAB from arresting Shahbaz till 17th

Published June 4, 2020
LAHORE: Opposition leader Shahbaz Sharif coming to the Lahore High Court to attend hearing of his bail petition.—Arif Ali / White Star
LAHORE: Opposition leader Shahbaz Sharif coming to the Lahore High Court to attend hearing of his bail petition.—Arif Ali / White Star

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday granted pre-arrest bail to Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif and restrained the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) from arresting him till June 17 for investigation into allegations of money laundering and assets beyond means.

However, refusing to give any let-up to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz president after he secured pre-arrest bail, NAB re-summoned him for June 9 for the same probe.

Just a day ago, a NAB team had raided the Model Town residence of Mr Shahbaz to arrest him after he skipped appearance before a combined investigation team of the bureau. However, the raiding team could not find him there and returned empty-handed.

Anti-graft watchdog again summons PML-N leader on 9th

On Wednesday, a large number of party workers had already gathered at the LHC when Mr Shahbaz arrived around 12pm to attend proceedings of his bail petition before a two-judge bench. Senior PML-N leaders, including Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Ahsan Iqbal, Rana Sanaullah Khan, Khawaja Saad Rafiq, Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, Marriyum Aurangzeb and Azma Bokhari, also arrived at the court before the hearing.

A heavy contingent of police was deployed in and outside the court while barricades were erected in the surrounding area, apparently to stop political workers from reaching the court.

A police team intercepted the vehicle of former law minister Rana Sanaullah Khan on the Mall Road and asked him for a search. The parliamentarian, who had been facing trial in a drug case, offered resistance and said he would let the police search his vehicle only in the presence of media persons. Later, he was allowed to proceed.

Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) president Tahir Nasarullah Warraich and Shahbaz Sharif’s lawyers took up the matter of roads’ blockade with the LHC authorities and the hurdles were removed after a while.

The courtroom was packed to its capacity when the bench commenced hearing of the bail petition. The security personnel failed to enforce Covid-19 standard operating procedures (SOPs), including social distancing, inside the courtroom.

“Where is the petitioner?” Justice Mohammad Tariq Abbasi asked the lawyers standing behind the rostrum.

Advocate Azam Nazir Tarar told the bench that the petitioner was present in the court. He said his client was a cancer patient.

Justice Abbasi, who headed the LHC bench, asked the counsel whether the petitioner had apprehension about his arrest by NAB. With an answer in the affirmative, the counsel said NAB had also arrested the petitioner on Oct 5, 2018 in the Punjab Ashiana-i-Iqbal Housing Scheme case when he appeared before the investigators in the Saaf Pani Company case.

He said the bureau kept the petitioner in custody for 63 days and also caused his arrest in another case of the Ramzan Sugar Mills while it failed to establish any charge against him. He said NAB, once again, wanted to arrest the petitioner.

The judge asked NAB Special Prosecutor Faisal Bokhari whether the prosecution would say something or act like a silent spectator. Mr Bokhari said NAB would oppose the bail petition.

Justice Abbasi questioned the delayed attempt of NAB to arrest the petitioner when the prosecutor said the warrant for the arrest was issued on May 28 and he was summoned for June 2.

“It seems that the NAB does not want to arrest the petitioner,” the judge expressed his wonder.

The bench allowed the pre-arrest interim bail to Mr Shahbaz, restraining NAB from arresting him till June 17. It also issued notice to the bureau for submission of a detailed reply.

Mr Shahbaz was ordered to furnish bail bonds of Rs500,000 with the deputy registrar (judicial) of the high court.

As the bench granted bail to the opposition leader, the party workers broke into chants of gratitude, ignoring the decorum of the court. The bench expressed serious displeasure and warned the petitioner’s counsel that the bail granting order could be withdrawn due to the conduct of PML-N workers.

On Tuesday, NAB had raided Model Town residence of Mr Shahbaz and PML-N lawmaker Sohail Shaukat’s house in Burki area to arrest the PML-N president after he skipped hearing.

“The NAB team had stopped the search after raiding two places (on Tuesday) and did not try to arrest him before Mr Shahbaz managed to reach the LHC on Wednesday morning. The PML-N leader left for the court from Model Town and NAB did not place its team there (Model Town),” a source told Dawn. He said the NAB had deployed its team only at the LHC, waiting for its verdict on the bail plea.

“It seems that Mr Shahbaz was deliberately given time to get to the court to plead for his bail,” he said.

The source added that it was not clear whether Mr Shahbaz had managed to escape by the time the NAB team and police reached there on Tuesday or he was in his house in Model Town and NAB team was told to return by ‘some quarters’.

NAB has accused the opposition leader of transferring the PML-N funds to his own bank accounts and making monumental increase in his assets over the last 20 years and the property.

Published in Dawn, June 4th, 2020

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