LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Wednesday denied a long adjournment to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in the post-arrest bail petition of former defence minister Khwaja Muhammad Asif, who is facing an assets beyond means inquiry, and directed the bureau’s prosecutor to come up with final arguments on June 21.

Earlier, the prosecutor told a two-judge bench that a reference against the former minister had been sent to the NAB chairman for final approval, seeking two weeks time to submit documents and a reply to the bail petition.

Justice Aalia Neelum, who headed the bench, asked the NAB prosecutor as to how a bail matter could be postponed for a long time.

Mr Asif’s counsel said the petitioner was on a judicial remand since Jan 27, 2021.

The judge asked the prosecutor what the NAB had been doing for the last six months.

The judge fixed June 21 for the next hearing and observed that the court could not be run on the whims of the NAB.

The NAB alleged that Mr Asif failed to explain the sources of his income and assets. It said the suspect was first elected senator in 1991 when his assets were around Rs5 million which swelled to Rs221mn by 2018, beyond known sources of his income.

Published in Dawn, June 17th, 2021