LHC decides to hear Shehbaz's bail petitions on daily basis

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday decided to hear the bail petitions of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Shehbaz Sharif on a daily basis.

A two-judge bench heard a bail petition filed by the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly.

As the hearing went under way, Shehbaz’s counsel told the court that his client has no connection with the Paragon Housing City scam and has still been nominated in the case.

“There is no statement against Shehbaz in the reference. He has been on physical remand for 50 days and terrorists are not even sent on remand for this long. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) is not even submitting a reply,” the PML-N leader’s counsel added.

The bench expressed anger at NAB’s counsel for not submitting a reply on Shehbaz’s bail petition.

Justice Malik Shehzad remarked, “The accusation is that the contract was cancelled to benefit Paragon company.” However, Shehbaz’s counsel responded, “This is only an allegation and not true. Nothing illegal was done.”

“The case inquiry began on January 10 and Shehbaz was summoned on January 22. The investigative report released on May 7 did not mention that Shehbaz was involved,” the counsel added.

During the hearing, the NAB counsel sought time to submit the reply and requested that the hearing be adjourned for one week. Rejecting NAB’s request, the bench decided that it will hear Shehbaz’s bail plea on a daily basis.

“You have filed a reference and now your comments are not needed,” the judge told NAB’s counsel.

Further, the judge asked Shehbaz’s counsel to tell the relation between his client and Paragon company. Shehbaz’s counsel responded, “He has nothing to do with Paragon and NAB has levelled several allegations against him.”

Justice Malik Shehzad then said, “Seven months have passed and we will not allow further delay.”

The court then adjourned the hearing till February 6 and directed NAB special prosecutor Akram Qureshi to submit a reply.