LAHORE: A Lahore High Court two-judge bench will resume on Tuesday hearing of a pre-arrest bail petition of PML-N Punjab president Rana Sanaullah Khan in an inquiry into alleged assets beyond means launched by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

A two-judge bench had on March 5, 2020 granted interim pre-arrest bail to Mr Khan in the inquiry subject to two surety bonds of Rs500,000 each.

The petition remained pending without a hearing for long and the NAB filed an application with the court for an early hearing in the matter.

The NAB alleged that Khan had been misusing his bail and trying to sabotage evidence against him. It asked the court to decide the bail petition of the suspect without delay.

The NAB also filed a reply to the petition saying the inquiry against the petitioner had been upgraded to an investigation. It said the NAB chairman had issued arrest warrants of the petitioner as his custody was required to complete the investigation.

Mr Khan, also a sitting MNA and former law minister, contended in his petition that the inquiry initiated by the NAB was in reaction to the post-arrest bail granted to him in a “fabricated” drug case.

The petitioner said he appeared before the bureau whenever he was summoned and informed the investigators that all his assets had already been scrutinised and frozen by the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) in the drug recovery case.

Khan said the NAB chairman and his officials were not competent to assume the jurisdiction in view of the pendency of the proceedings in the drug case before a special court.

The bench comprising Justice Sardar Sarfraz Dogar and Justice Asjad Javed Ghural would hear the bail petition.

Published in Dawn, February 7th, 2021