ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) rejected National Accountability Bureau's (NAB) plea seeking dismissal of bail granted by an accountability court to Capt (retd) Muhammad Safdar in the Avenfield Properties Reference.

A division bench, comprising Justices Aamer Farooq and Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, announced the reserved verdict when NAB prosecutor Sardar Muzaffar Abbasi and defence counsel Amjad Pervez concluded their arguments in the case.

NAB had approached the IHC on November 3 last year, requesting the court to set aside the accountability court’s order dated October 9 by declaring it ‘illegal’, so that Safdar be remanded in judicial custody. The bench observed that the NAB had the authority to arrest suspects at any given stage during investigation just as a suspect had the right to apply for pre-arrest bail.

Subsequently the IHC bench maintained the decision of accountability court which granted pre arrest bail to Capt. Safdar against deposit of Rs. 5 million as surety bonds.