Court extends bails of Shehbaz, Hamza till Feb 1

Judge says withdraw application from Special Court of Banking Services so that this court may proceed

LAHORE:

The special court (central) on Thursday extended the pre-arrest bails of PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza Shehbaz till February 1 in the Rs25 billion money laundering case.

During the hearing, the judge instructed the PML-N leaders to withdraw their continuing pre-arrest bail applications from two different forums.

The judge informed the accused to “either have both bail applications dismissed or withdraw the application from the Special Court for Banking Offences so that this court [special court (central)] may proceed”.

During the proceedings, Amjad Pervez, the Sharif family’s lead counsel, put forth a plea of exemption from court appearance, citing that Shehbaz had tested positive for Covid-19 and thereby posed a threat to public safety, mentioning that the accused was present in his vehicle.

Read: “Courts adjourn hearings in cases against Shehbaz, son till 27^th”

Accepting the request, the judge withdrew his direction for Shehbaz’s appearance and sent a court official to affirm the presence of Shehbaz in his vehicle.

Previously, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) probed the authority of the Special Court for Banking Offences, arguing that the court could not hold the trial of the accused persons as the case fell under the jurisdiction of the special court (central).

However, the judge returned the challan to the FIA admitting its plea, while granting protective bails for a week to both the opposition leaders with directions to file fresh pre-arrest bail applications in the relevant court. Both accused parties had filed their pre-arrest bails in the Special Court for Banking Offences in the alleged Rs25 billion money laundering case.

Petitioners Shehbaz and Hamza in their earlier bails had contended that the FIA’s inquiry and allegations were forged and construed to humiliate their family.

They implored the court that the notice issued by the FIA on June 22 to join the investigation was void since the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had previously carried out an investigation on the same allegations of money laundering.

They added that while they wanted to appear before the investigation team, they feared being arrested by the FIA citing that past experiences of being summoned and arrested for different matters had set precedence. Therefore, both members of the opposition requested the court to grant them pre-arrest bail.