LHC seeks NAB’s reply on plea of ex-CM’s wife

Trial court rejected application for exemption from appearance

LAHORE:

A Lahore High Court division bench has sought detailed reply from the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) with a direction to refrain from taking any coercive measure till February 8 against Nusrat Shehbaz, wife of Opposition Leader in National Assembly Mian Shehbaz Sharif, on her petition against an accountability court order.

The petitioner had challenged the order wherein her application seeking exemption from personal appearance was dismissed, her arrest warrants were issued and proceedings started to declare her a proclaimed offender. In the petition filed through Advocate Amjad Pervez, she contended that the prosecution’s stance was that she is the benamidar owner of various properties on behalf of her husband, former chief minister Shehbaz Sharif, and she had aided and abetted her husband in acquiring assets beyond means and money laundering. She contended that she had never held a public office and was not dependent upon her husband. She said she had been declaring all her assets before the authorities concerned.

The petitioner added that she was 66 years of age and a chronic patient of serious ailments. She had to go abroad in April 2019 and since then was there for medical treatment.

She said her application for exemption from appearance was attested by the High Commission of Pakistan in London and supported by attested copies of medical certificates.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 21^st, 2021.