LHC takes up Shahbaz’s pre-arrest bail plea today

LAHORE: A Lahore High Court division bench will take up on Wednesday (today) a petition for pre-arrest bail by Opposition Leader in National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif. The legal team of Shahbaz had filed the petition on June 1, a day before he was required to appear before a combined investigation team of NAB. However, the petition could not be fixed for hearing before the division bench, constituted to hear NAB-related pleas, and Shahbaz did not appear before the bureau too. The Shahbaz petition is at No 2 on the cause-list of urgent cases before the bench. The petition said the petitioner was arrested on October 5, 2018 in other cases (Ramzan Sugar Mills and Ashiana-i-Iqbal Housing Scheme) and was in NAB custody when the impugned inquiry into assets was authorized on Oct 23. It said the petitioner was thoroughly investigated regarding all his assets and the bureau officials could not confront him with any evidence to suggest any nexus of misuse or abuse of office with amassing of any assets.