LAHORE: A division bench of the Lahore High Court on Thursday extended pre-arrest bail of leader of Opposition in National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif till September 28 in a money-laundering case.

The bench comprising Justice Sardar Ahmad Naeem and Justice Farooq Haider asked the defense counsel to conclude his arguments on next hearing.

Earlier, the counsel of Shahbaz Sharif complained to the Lahore High Court that Advisor to the Prime Minister on Interior Mirza Shahzad Akbar held a press conference the other day on the money laundering reference appending before an accountability court.

He said the ministers and the advisors of the government had been openly discussing the sub-judice matters which amounted to prejudicing the proceedings before the courts. He said the ministers had been claiming that Shahbaz would be behind the bar soon. He further said the Supreme Court repeatedly observed that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) apparently arrested people only for its ego satisfaction. He said the NAB was being used for political engineering and the superior courts of the country had also been giving observations on the lopsided process of the accountability. He said the NAB had already issued the arrest warrants of Shahbaz before summoning him for the investigation. He questioned the intension of the NAB to arrest the petitioner despite that fact that the trial of the case had already been commenced.

He said the NAB summoned Shahbaz once during the last three months and he did appear before it. He said the reference filed by the NAB was a proof that the investigation stood completed.

Shahbaz Sharif also came to the rostrum and said the NAB had no evidence against him to establish that he misused the public office for any financial gain. He also sought permission from the bench to present some documents.

The bench assured Shahbaz of an ample opportunity of hearing asking him to let his counsel conclude the arguments first. The counsel said he would require two to three days more to complete his arguments while NAB Special Prosecutor said he needed only 30 minutes for arguments.

Other leaders of PML-N including Rana Sanaullah Khan, Khwaja Saad Rafiq and Maryam Aurangzeb also joined the party's president. The police deployments remained at high alert in and outside the court and a large number of party workers came to express solidarity with their leader.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020