ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court Friday turned down Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Hamza Shehbaz’s post-arrest bail plea, after his counsel withdrew the petition.

A three-judge bench, headed by Justice Mushir Alam, heard the bail plea of Opposition Leader in the Punjab Assembly Hamza Shehbaz.

The PML-N leader was arrested in Ramzan Sugar Mills scam and is behind bars for the last 18 months.

According to his lawyer, the NAB had filed a reference against him, which comprises voluminous record and proposed 110 prosecution witnesses (PW), out which only three PWs have recorded their statements.

During the proceeding, Justice Tariq Masood inquired from advocate Amjad Pervaiz, who represented Hamza Shehbaz, whether he wanted to pursue the case on the basis of merit or on hardship basis.

He replied on the hardship basis as his client is behind the bars for the last 18 months.

Upon that, Justice Masood said how they could hear the plea on hardship basis, if there was no mention of it before the Lahore High Court (LHC).

The counsel said the situation was different at the time.

“There were no grounds for hardship at the time,” he said, and added; “No one can be detained indefinitely.”

He further submitted that no reference had been filed against Hamza when he applied for post-arrest bail.

The charges against my client were for Rs7 billion but the reference has been filed for Rs530 million.

Justice Yahya Afridi remarked that it would be appropriate for the petitioner to approach the high court on the basis of the accountability court’s repot.

The PML-N leader had approached the apex court in April 2020; two months after the LHC denied him bail in the money laundering case but granted it in the Ramzan Sugar Mills case.

Hamza then sought bail on the grounds of being vulnerable to the coronavirus in jail but the LHC did not agree with the grounds.

Following this, the counsel withdrew the application and moved the apex court.

Hamza was arrested in June 2019 from inside the LHC in relation to two cases pertaining to money laundering and accumulating assets beyond means of income.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021