ISLAMABAD: The Accountability Court on Thursday turned down the National Accountability Bureau (NAB)'s request to issue non-bailable arrest warrant for former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi for going abroad without the permission of the court.

The federal cabinet on December 24 has given one-time permission to former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi to go abroad for 15 days. Abbasi's name was placed in the Exit Control List (ECL) on the recommendation of the NAB in the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) case.

The Accountability Court-II judge, Muhammad Azam Khan, while hearing the LNG case against Abbasi and others, rejected the NAB's plea to issue non-bailable arrest warrant of Abbasi, and approved his defence counsel's request seeking exemption of his client from personnel appearance before the court for one day.

The court directed the accused to ensure his presence during the next hearing to be held on January 15th. At the start of the hearing, Barrister Zafarullah Khan Abbasi informed the court that his client did not appear before the court as he went abroad. He requested the court to grant one-day exemption to his client from personnel appearance before it.

At this, the judge asked that did the accused needed court permission for going abroad? What does the law say about it? The judge asked from Abbasi's counsel. The judge further said the proceedings of the case were continued, and the name of the accused was placed on the ECL.

The defence counsel told the court that the government had allowed Abbasi to go abroad. The government has granted one-time permission to Abbasi or removed his name from the ECL for one time, he further told the court.

NAB prosecutor, Usman Mirza, told the court that the court also asked from the Ministry of Interior, why the accused was allowed to go abroad without the court's permission.

The defence counsel told the court that Abbasi's name was removed from the ECL for one time, after the approval of the sub-committee of the federal cabinet. The court directed the defence counsel to produce before it the government's permission that allowed Abbasi to go abroad.

The court will decide the matter after seeing the government's permission, the judge said. The defence counsel told the court that his client has gone abroad after fulfilling all legal formalities.

The NAB prosecutor argued before the court that the accused went abroad without the permission of the court. The accused has filed before the court an application after going abroad, he said. The prosecutor further said that the court should issue non-bailable arrest warrants for Abbasi for going abroad without permission.

The NAB prosecutor requested the court to reject the accused's exemption application. The court adjourned hearing of the case for few hours, and directed the defence counsel to produce the government's permission before it after the break.

The defence counsel after the break produced the government's permission before the court. The court asked the defence counsel that for how many days Abbasi had went abroad. Zafarullah replied that Abbasi had went abroad for 15 days.

He further told the court that his client was abroad when his name was placed on the ECL. The federal government had the power to add or remove names from the ECL, he said, adding that under the law, after getting permission any accused could travel inside or outside the country.

He further told the court that the federal government had not imposed any conditions on Abbasi for going abroad. The government did not even impose any condition on Abbasi to obtain permission from the court, he said, adding that Abbasi was one of the highest taxpayers.

He said the prime minister had sent a letter to Shahid Khaqan asking him to come and collect the award from them for paying taxes. The court reserved its judgement for some time after hearing arguments of both the parties.

The court, while announcing its reserved judgement, rejected the NAB's request to issue non-bailable arrest warrant of Abbasi, and grant one-day exemption to the accused. The court adjourned the hearing till January 15.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021