LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday issued notices to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on the petitions for post-arrest bail filed by Leader of Opposition in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif and former defence minister Khwaja Muhammad Asif in two cases against them carrying charges of illegal assets and money laundering.

A two-judge bench, headed by Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar, heard the petitions separately and directed the special prosecutor of NAB to submit replies on behalf of the respondents.

The hearings of the petitions by Shehbaz and Asif were adjourned for April 13 and April 14, respectively.

In his petition, Shehbaz alleged that proceedings against him by NAB had been prompted by mala fide intention, ulterior motive and considerations extraneous to law. He said registration of a series of cases in quick succession against him and his repeated arrests at the behest of the government had been a classic example of misuse of the NAB process to muffle the voice of the opposition.

He said the bureau failed to collect any evidence of any corruption, kickbacks, misuse of any public office for personal gain by him throughout his political career.

Asif argued, in his petition, he had already provided NAB with an explanation of various sources of income justifying the acquisition of assets owned and possessed by him. He said the onus to prove the allegations of owning any illegal asset was on the prosecution, which failed to establish its case.

SAFDAR: The LHC extended interim pre-arrest bail of retired Capt Muhammad Safdar, son-in-law of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, in an inquiry of assets beyond means initiated against him by NAB.

Headed by Justice Sardar Sarfraz Dogar, the division bench allowed time to NAB to file its reply and adjourned hearing till April 15.

Safdar through a counsel contended that an inquiry into the assets of the petitioner was already pending with Peshawar office of NAB when the Lahore office of the anti-corruption watchdog initiated another inquiry on similar charges.

Published in Dawn, March 30th, 2021