LAHORE – A Lahore High Court (LHC) division bench on Monday granted interimbail to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Hamza Shehbaz in assetsbeyond means case till April 17.
The court directed Hamza Shehbaz to submit surety bonds of Rs 10 millionfor availing the relief of interim bail.
The bench comprising Justice Malik Shahzad Ahmad Khan and Justice MirzaViqas Rauf passed the orders while hearing a pre-arrest bail petition filedby Hamza Shehbaz.
At the outset of the proceedings, Hamza Shehbaz along with his counselappeared before the court, besides the National Accountability Bureau (NAB)prosecution team.
To a court’s query, the NAB prosecutor submitted that there were threecases, including assets beyond means, Saaf Pani and Ramzan Sugar Mills,against the petitioner but the Bureau wanted to arrest him in the assetsbeyond means case,whereas no arrest warrants had been issued in other two cases as yet.
Advocate Azam Nazir Tarar argued on behalf of Hamza Shehbaz that hisclient approached the LHC on November 1, 2018 for bail but his petition wasdisposed of after the Bureau told the court that it did not want to arrestHamza as yet. However,the bench ordered the Bureau to inform the petitioner at least 10 daysbefore his arrest, if it wanted to arrest him in future so that he couldapproach the court for remedy, he added.
He submitted that the Bureau violated the court directions and raided hisclient’s house for arrest but the same could not happen due to protest ofPML-N party workers.
He submitted that all allegations against his client were mala fide andrequested the court for the relief of bail.
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But, the NAB prosecutor argued that the Bureau was not bound to inform thepetitioner in advance, as per a Supreme Court judgement and all the stepswere taken by the Bureau in accordance with the law.
He alleged that the Bureau had detected an illegal transaction of Rs 3billion in Hamza Shehbaz’s account and it was feared that if he was grantedbail then the witnesses would be threatened and record could be tempered.He pleaded with the court to dismiss the bail request.
However, the bench after hearing the initial arguments granted interim bailto Hamza Shehbaz till April 17 and sought reply and para wise comments fromthe Bureau till next date of hearing.
A large number of PML-N workers were also present to show their support forHamza, whereas strict security arrangements were made on the occasion.
It is pertinent to mention here that LHC Chief Justice Sardar MuhammadShamim Khan granted a two-day protective bail to Hamza Shahbaz on Saturdayto enable him to approach the bench concerned for hearing of his bailpetition.
