NAB barred from taking coercive steps against Nusrat Shahbaz

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court Wednesday restrained the NAB from taking coercive measures against Nusrat Shahbaz, wife of Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif, and also sought its reply on her petition challenging non-bailable arrest warrants by an accountability court in the money-laundering and illegal assets case.

A counsel on behalf of the petitioner argued that she was an old and infirm woman of over 66 years and had to go abroad during early 2019 for the treatment of her many chronic illnesses. He said the petitioner was already out of the country when the NAB started issuing call-up notices to her. A NAB counsel opposed the petition and said the petitioner was in the country when the investigation was initiated against her. To a court’s query, he said charges had been framed in the case; however, statement of the petitioner was yet to be recorded. The petitioner’s counsel said it was not necessary for an accused to be present in the court for the indictment.

The two-judge bench headed by Justice Sarfraz Ahmad Dogar directed the NAB to submit a written reply to the petition by February 8 and also restrained it from taking coercive measures against the petitioner.

Nusrat Shahbaz, who at present is living in London, filed her petition through PML-N Deputy Secretary General Attaullah Tarar as a special attorney. She asked the LHC to set aside the impugned order of the trial court regarding denial of exemption from personal appearance and the issuance of her non-bailable arrest warrants for being illegal.