Court refuses to extend physical remand of Hamza

LAHORE: An accountability court on Wednesday declined to extend physical remand of Leader of Opposition in Punjab Assembly Hamza Shahbaz in an assets beyond means case and sent him to jail on judicial remand. The investigator associated with the case told the court that the NAB had successfully gathered more relevant evidence regarding this case from different offices of Punjab including the Chief Minister (CM) Office. He told the court that two Benami companies were made in the name of two employees of the CM office namely Ali Ahmed Khan and Mehr Nisar Ahmed. He said the data regarding several properties were obtained from the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) and other departments.

After giving all these details, the NAB asked the court to extend the physical remand of Hamza Shahbaz so that the interrogation can be completed.

Hamza’s lawyer told the court that the NAB presented different facts not related to the case being heard by the court, so the request for another extension in physical remand should be rejected. The court agreed and rejected the NAB request for physical remand.

Later, talking to media persons, Hamza criticized the double standard of the PTI government, saying that it had waived billions of rupees tax from the rich and imposed heavy taxes on the poor. Without naming anyone, he said with whom they wanted to have a deal, the entire PML-N leadership was already languishing in jails.

Meanwhile, the accountability court exempted PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif from personal appearance in Ashiana Housing and Ramzan Sugar Mills references.

Shahbaz didn’t join the hearing as his counsel informed the court that his client couldn’t appear before the court due to health issues and sought exemption from appearing before the court. The court while accepting Shahbaz’s plea granted him exemption from the hearing.