Sugar scam: Shahbaz, Hamza granted interim bail till July 10

LAHORE: A banking offence court on Monday granted pre-arrest interim bail to Leader of the Opposition in National Assembly, Shahbaz Sharif, and his son Hamza Shahbaz till July 10 in connection with sugar scam.

The court directed them for submitting surety bonds of Rs1 million each to avail the relief of bail. The duo appeared before the duty judge, Additional District and Sessions Judge Syed Ali Abbas, along with their counsel Amjad Pervaiz.

The counsel argued before the court that the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had summoned the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president and his son Hamza for June 22 and June 24, respectively, for investigation into the cases registered against them in connection with the sugar scam.

He submitted that the FIA had levelled allegations of possessing assets beyond means, whereas the identical matter was already sub-judice before an accountability court.

The FIA issued call-up notices after remaining silent for some time, which indicated mala-fide intention, the counsel said and pleaded with the court to grant pre-arrest bail to his clients, as it was feared that the FIA might arrest them.

At this stage, Shahbaz submitted that the FIA officials approached him for investigation into the matter while he was in prison, adding he did not have any link with the matter.Subsequently, the court granted pre-arrest bail to Shahbaz and Hamza till July 10, and restrained the agency from arresting them. The court also sought record of the cases from the FIA.It may be mentioned here that Shahbaz and his sons – Hamza and Suleman Sharif – were booked by the FIA in November last year under various sections of Pakistan Penal Code, Prevention of Corruption Act and Anti-Money Laundering Act.