LHC seeks reply from NAB on Sana’s petition

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Wednesday sought a reply from the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on a petition of PML-N Punjab President Rana Sanaullah challenging an inquiry against him on the allegations of accumulating assets beyond means.

The division bench comprising Justice Ali Baqar Najafi and Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh passed the orders while hearing the petition filed by the PML-N leader challenging call-up notices issued by the bureau in an inquiry into his assets.

Advocate Azam Nazir Tarar appeared on behalf of the petitioner and argued that the NAB opened the impugned inquiry with mala fide intension and on political consideration at the behest of the government. He said the NAB acted beyond its jurisdiction and started issuing him summons to appear in its inquiry. On each appearance in the inquiry, the bureau investigators did nothing but offered a cup of tea to the petitioner and made him wait for long.

At this, Justice Najafi, on a lighter note, referred to tea served to Indian pilot Abhinandan by the Pakistan Army during his short captivity. The judge, however, observed that prima facie, the impugned inquiry is not beyond the jurisdiction of the NAB. Justice Sheikh noted that Article 13 of the Constitution, which protects double punishment, does not put a bar on an inquiry.

Advocate Tarar said the NAB is investigating the same assets already frozen by the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) following a drug case against him. He said both the NAB and the ANF are the institutions of the federal government. He pointed out that the ANF claimed that the petitioner accumulated assets through alleged smuggling of narcotics while the NAB took a ground that the assets had been amassed through corrupt practices. The NAB implicated the petitioner in the inquiry after his release on bail in the drug case. He asked the bench to suspend the impugned inquiry. NAB Prosecutor Faisal Raza Bokhari argued that the inquiry had already been in process before the petitioner’s bail in the drug case. The bench observed that it normally preferred to entertain petitions for pre-arrest bails instead of suspending the process of inquiries by the NAB. The bench issued a notice to the NAB and sought its reply on the matter by March 25.

Meanwhile, Rana Sanaullah also filed a pre-arrest bail petition in the Lahore High court. He pleaded that he had hardly reached home after release on bail in the drug case on December 23, 2019 when he was served with a call-up notice by the NAB on December 27. He said he appeared before a combined investigation team in an inquiry into allegations of accumulation of assets beyond means and told it that all assets of his family had been frozen by a Special Anti-narcotics Court.

He said call-up notices and inquiry are prompted by mala fide intention and politically-motivated at the behest of the government. He denied commission of any offence that falls under National Accountability Ordinance 1999. He requested the court to grant him pre-arrest bail in the pending inquiry. The bench will take up the petition on Thursday (today).