LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday granted post-arrest bail to opposition leader in Punjab Assembly Hamza Shahbaz in the Ramzan Sugar Mills case.
However, he would not be released from jail due to his arrest in assets beyond means case. A two-member bench comprising Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi and Justice Chaudhry Abdul Aziz conducted a hearing into Hamza’s bail petition. A trial court had indicted Hamza in the sugar mills case along with his father, former Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, on April 9 last year. During the course of hearing, the court expressed annoyance over NAB performance and took the NAB prosecutor to task for leaving glaring flaws in the investigation. “Why was a supplementary reference filed against the accused when an existing reference had already been filed?” questioned the court.
The NAB prosecutor replied that whenever there had been new evidence a supplementary reference was filed, adding that new evidence was collected before filing supplementary reference. This astonished the court and the judge asked, “Please identify the laws under which a supplementary reference can be filed after an initial reference has already been filed,” the court demanded. NAB prosecutor started beating about the bush as he had no answer to court’s query. “You do not have any answer to the questions that have been asked. Why are you wasting the nation’s time and money?” the judge remarked.
The investigation officer could not finalise the investigations in 90 days period, are they spending their time sitting idle or playing games, the judge remarked. The court asked the NAB prosecutor whether the drains in question were only made to benefit Ramzan Sugar Mills. “If that is the case, then you have a case for misuse of power.” The bench expressed annoyance over the NAB prosecutor and asked him did he bring evidence of misuse of power? However, the prosecutor replied that the investigation officer who probed the case was currently on leave due to his examinations. This prompted Justice Naqvi to say: “Considering the standard of your inquiry, you should all be given the Pride of Performance Award.”
Justice Mazahar again criticised the NAB investigation and questioned whether Shahbaz Sharif had more powers or Hamza. Subsequently, the bench granted bail to Hamza Shahbaz in Ramzan Sugar Mills case. On the other hand, Hamza Shahbaz’s counsel argued that so far, none of the evidence presented before the court, had proven his client’s guilt. In his petition, Hamza had argued that NAB initiated the inquiry against him with malicious intentions and failed to find any irregularity committed by him.
Hamza Shahbaz, through the bail plea, had submitted that the drain was built in Tehsil Bharwana in the public interest. He submitted that the sewage drain was constructed after the approval of the provincial cabinet and the assembly. He submitted that the bureau had failed to find any evidence against him whereas co-accused Shahbaz Sharif had already been granted bail in the case. He pleaded with the court to grant benefit of the bail to him.
The NAB had alleged that former chief minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif misused his authority by using public funds for the construction of a drain to facilitate the Ramzan Sugar Mills, owned by his sons. Meanwhile, the bench adjourned hearing of post-arrest bail petition, filed by Hamza Shahbaz in assets beyond means and money-laundering case till Feb 11.
