LAHORE, April 8: An accountability bench of the Lahore High Court on Tuesday reserved judgment on an appeal of former provincial labour minister Ejaz Ahmad Sheikh, seeking the suspension of sentence awarded to him in a NAB reference.

The ex-minister, who had been sentenced to 14-year jail, by an accountability court on the charges of amassing illegal assets by abusing his official position, pleaded that the reference should be remanded to the trial court because his wife and a son, shown as Benamidars in the reference, had not been inquired about their sources of income by the court under the directions of the Supreme Court.

The convict argued in the court that under the jail manual provisions, he had already served sentence of eight years, and deserved grant of bail during the hearing of the fresh reference by the trial court.

He said the court did not record the statements of his wife and son, shown as beneficiaries to the Benamidar transaction allegedly undertaken by him for acquiring Rs4.6 million worth bank account.

The Supreme Court had ruled in its judgment that the trial court could not convict an accused arrested for having amassed illegal assets unless his family members, shown as Benamidars in the reference, were summoned by the court and inquired about their sources of income, the convict added.

The NAB counsel, Javed Shaukat Malik, however denied these allegations on the ground that the convict, who had been awarded the maximum permissible term under the NAB ordinance, did not deserve release on bail. He argued that he was yet to serve the substantial part of the sentence.

The NAB counsel did not vehemently oppose the argument for remanding the trial to the accountability court after he acknowledged that court was bound to follow the SC’s instructions in this regard.