LHC bars NAB from arresting Hamza Shahbaz

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court has barred the National Accountability Bureau from arresting the Leader of Opposition in Punjab Assembly Hamza Shahbaz till further orders.

The younger Shahbaz had approached the LHC on Saturday against the anti-graft body, which had tried twice last week to arrest him but failed due to resistance by the PML-N workers.

The court granted bail  and directed the PM-N leader to deposit Rs 10 million surety bonds. 

A two-member bench of the high court adjourned the hearing of bail application till April 17.

On Saturday, LHC Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Shamim Khan, allowed protective bail to Hamza Shahbaz and barred the NAB from arresting him till Monday.

The chief justice issued the order, in his chamber, on a civil miscellaneous application filed by the counsel of Hamza to stop his possible arrest when a NAB team had raided his Model Town residence for the second time in 24 hours to take him into custody.

A legal team comprising Lahore High Court Bar Association President, Hafeezur Rehman Chaudhry, Amjad Pervez and Chaudhry Imtiaz Elahi appeared on behalf of Hamza before the chief justice in his chamber.

The counsel contended that a petition of Hamza for ad interim pre-arrest bail was already fixed for hearing before a two-judge bench for April 8. They pointed out that the court had on Nov 20, 2018, disposed of a previous bail petition of the leader of opposition with a direction to the NAB to intimate the petitioner if it found any ground for his arrest so he could have sufficient time of at least 10 days for approaching the court of competent jurisdiction.

They argued that the NAB in violation of the order was apt to arrest the petitioner without giving him time and his house was cordoned by the bureau’s officials.