LAHORE: A division bench of the Lahore High Court headed by Justice Sardar Sarfraz Dogar would take up a bail petition of Leader of Opposition in Punjab Assembly Hamza Shehbaz on Wednesday (today) in the reference of money laundering and assets beyond means.

The petitioner through his counsel stated that Hamza Shabaz was arrested on June 11, 2019 while the reference was filed on August 20, 2020.

The charges were framed on November 11, 2020 after a period of unconscionable delay of 17 months he said and added the delay could not be attributed to the petitioner in any manner whatsoever. He argued that the petitioner is entitled to bail on this ground of delay alone without touching the merits of the case.

He contended that the investigation is complete, nothing is to be recovered from the petitioner and progress in trial is minimal as out of 110 prosecution witnesses only five witnesses have been testified so far.

He argued that the allegations of money laundering and assets beyond means against the petitioner are false and frivolous as a number of known sources of income were duly declared by him from time to time.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021