LHC grants bail to Shahbaz in money laundering case

Ag Agencies

LAHORE: A full bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday granted bail to Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif in an assets-beyond-means and money laundering case, a week after a split verdict added confusion to the saga.

The court directed Sharif to submit two surety bonds of Rs5 million each to avail relief. The bench was headed by Justice Syed Ali Baqar Najafi. The other judges who heard the post-arrest bail petition filed by Shahbaz Sharif were Justice Aalia Neelum and Justice Syed Shahbaz Ali Rizvi.

LHC Chief justice Muhammad Qasim Khan had formed the three-member bench to hear the bail petition of Shahbaz Sharif after the division bench’s split decision in the matter.

As the proceedings began Thursday, a prosecutor for the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) said Sharif’s counsel, Azam Nazir Tarar, had referred to the division bench’s split decision in his arguments, and stated that he had never seen in 27 years that a ruling “had been changed after announcement”. The NAB prosecutor said the statement was tantamount to contempt of the court.

At this, Tarar responded by saying the NAB prosecutor had given a “harsh statement” and he should withdraw it. The NAB prosecutor said he could prove that Tarar’s statement was contemptuous and it should be withdrawn.

Justice Aalia Neelum intervened at this stage and asked the parties to make arguments on the case only. The prosecutor then stated that Shahbaz Sharif became a public office-holder in 1990, when he possessed assets worth Rs2.1 million.

He said the assets of the Shahbaz Sharif family rose to Rs148 million in 1998, and then swelled to Rs7 billion in 2018. He claimed that the family started receiving telegraphic transfers in 2005 and they developed assets from those amounts.

He also said the family members were also nominated in the money laundering reference, whereas they did not join the investigations, except for Hamza Shahbaz, and had been declared proclaimed offenders.

Justice Baqar Najafi asked whether NAB investigated the telegraphic transfers and tried to determine their sources. The prosecutor replied that the statement of the “cash boys” were on record for the purpose.

Sharif’s counsel said the bureau did not mention the source of the money in the reference. The bench asked if Shahbaz Sharif had not been accused of misuse of power, how the bureau could claim the assets were amassed through means beyond known sources of income.

The prosecutor replied that the assets of Shahbaz Sharif were more than his income. He said Shahbaz Sharif earned a profit of Rs120 million from 2014 to 2018, but he never mentioned the source of earnings or his business.

The prosecutor further said the matter was pending for only the past seven months; therefore, there was no ground for the hardship argument. He pleaded with the bench to dismiss the petition.

Subsequently, the court, after hearing the arguments, granted bail to Shahbaz Sharif with directives to submit surety bonds for the purpose. A day earlier, Sharif’s counsel concluded his arguments.