LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Tuesday granted protective bail to retired Capt Safdar, son-in-law of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, restraining the National Accountability Bureau of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) from arresting him.

Advocate Azam Nazir Tarar argued before a two-judge bench that the NAB-KP initiated an inquiry against his client (Mr Safdar) on the allegations of accumulating assets beyond his means. He said the bureau kept serving summons to Safdar on the address of his old residence in Mansehra, whereas he had been living in Lahore since long.

Therefore, the counsel said the petitioner failed to respond to the NAB summons and after knowing about the summons joined the inquiry well in time.

He said there were serious apprehensions that the NAB would arrest the petitioner since it had been arresting persons at inquiry stage despite their joining of the investigation.

Advocate Tarar said the petitioner was a law abiding citizen and wanted to join the investigation despite the fact that charges against him had not been clearly mentioned in the summons.

He asked the bench to allow protective bail to the petitioner so that he could appear before the NAB and join its investigation.

The bench comprising Justice Ali Baqar Najafi and Justice Shahid Bilal Hassan granted protective bail to Safdar for 10 days and restrained the NAB from arresting him during the period. It directed the petitioner to deposit two bail bonds worth Rs500,000 each.

Mr Safdar also appeared before the bench.

Published in Dawn, October 24th, 2018

Download the new Dawn mobile app here:

Google Play