LAHORE: Leader of Opposition in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif on Friday moved the Lahore High Court (LHC) for post-arrest bail in a reference of money laundering and illegal assets five months after he was sent to jail on judicial remand by the trial court.

Usually an accused files petition for post-arrest bail immediately after the end of physical remand. However, legal experts say, in some cases, spending a reasonable time in jail during the pendency of the trial makes the case for the bail stronger.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had arrested Shehbaz on Sept 28 after the LHC denied him further relief of pre-arrest bail in the reference. He was first granted the interim pre-arrest bail on June 3.

After the arrest, he remained in the bureau’s custody for 23 days till the trial court sent him on judicial remand on Oct 20, 2020.

Gets Covid vaccine jab in jail

Previously, Shehbaz was also arrested by NAB on Oct 5, 2018 in Ashiana-i-Iqbal Housing Scheme and later in Ramzan Sugar Mills case. The LHC had released him on bail in both cases on Feb 17, 2019.

The bail petition filed through advocates Azam Nazir Tarar and Amjad Pervez argued that the proceedings against Shehbaz by NAB had been prompted by malafide intention.

It alleged that registration of series of cases in a quick succession and repeated arrests of the petitioner at the behest of the government had been a classic example of misuse of NAB process to muffle the voice of the petitioner as the leader of the opposition.

It contended that the petitioner had been facing inquiry on the allegation of assets beyond means since 2018. It also referred to the health issues of Shehbaz being 70-year-old and the delay in the trial proceedings.

In this reference, six out of 10 indicted suspects had already been released on post-arrest bail, including Shehbaz’s son Leader of Opposition in Punjab Assembly Hamza Shehbaz, Muhammad Mushtaq Cheeni, Shahid Rafiq, Aftab Mahmood, Fazal Dad Abbasi and Shoaib Qamar.

Shehbaz’s wife Nusrat, son Suleman, daughter Rabia Imran and son-in-law Haroon Yousaf have been declared absconders in the reference by the trial court.

VACCINATION: A team of the district government visited Shehbaz Sharif in the Kot Lakhpat Jail and vaccinated him against the Covid19 pandemic.

The other day, the trial court had directed the government to ensure vaccination of Shehbaz as he made a request for it. Shehbaz is almost 70 years.

HEARING: An accountability court on Friday adjourned hearing of the money laundering reference till April 1 and directed NAB to present its more witnesses for testimony.

Earlier, the defence completed cross-examination of two prosecution witnesses.

Shehbaz was produced before the court by the jail officials while Hamza appeared on his own.

Another daughter of Shehbaz, namely Javeria, has been granted exemption from personal appearance by the court.

Published in Dawn, March 27th, 2021