Saad, Salman granted protective bail

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday granted protective bail to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Khawaja Saad Rafique and his brother Salman Rafique against their possible arrest by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in connection with the Paragon City scam.

A division bench headed by Justice Ali Baqar Najafi issued order on a petition filed by the siblings through advocate Amjad Pervez and directed them to furnish surety bond of Rs500,000 each.

In the petition, they expressed apprehensions over an ‘illegal’ arrest by NAB – similar to that of the PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif. They claimed that they had proved their innocence during the course of investigation and provided all required information as well as documents to the interrogators.

The counsel pleaded that the petitioners were going to appear before a combined investigation team of the NAB on October 16 (today) following call-up notices issued to them. He said the petitioners had been cooperating with the NAB in investigation but the bureau could arrest illegally them like it arrested opposition leader in National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif.

He said the NAB had become a stooge in the hands of the government and resorted to victimisation of political opponents. He asked the court to grant protective bail to the petitioners so that they could approach the court of competent jurisdiction in case the NAB chairman issues their arrest warrants. After hearing initial arguments, the court barred NAB from arresting Khawaja brothers and issued notice to bureau for October 24.