LAHORE: A special court (Central) on Saturday rejected the plea of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to cancel the pre-arrest bail of Leader of Opposition in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif in a money laundering case.

Earlier, a FIA prosecutor urged the court to withdraw bail of Shehbaz Sharif as he had been misusing the concession of pre-arrest bail.

The prosecutor also challenged the one-time exemption from personal appearance allowed to Shehbaz by the court on the last hearing.

The court, however, asked the prosecutor as to how the court could revisit its own decision and added that the prosecution could have filed an appeal before the Lahore High Court if it had any objection on the court’s decision.

The court also further observed that it would not be appropriate to pass any final order on the petition of the prosecution without hearing the opposite side. The court, therefore, issued notice to Shehbaz Sharif and directed the office to place the petition of the FIA along with the bail petition of the suspect for April 04.

The FIA had booked Shehbaz and his sons Hamza and Suleman under Prevention of Corruption Act and r/w 3/4 of Anti Money Laundering Act. Suleman is absconding in the United Kingdom.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022