LAHORE       -            The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday granted pre-arrest interim bail to Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) Punjab President Rana Sanaullah and restrained the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) from arresting him till March 25.

The court also directed the PML-N leader to furnish two surety bonds of Rs 500,000 each to avail the interim relief. Rana Sanaullah appeared before a two-member bench, comprising Justice Ali Baqar Najafi and Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh, for pleading bail in an inquiry initiated by the NAB into his assets.

A counsel on behalf of Rana Sanaullah argued before the bench that the NAB had initiated an inquiry against the petitioner in connection with his assets. He mentioned that the assets were already frozen by Anti-Narcotics Force in a drug case against the petitioner.

While questioning the jurisdiction of the anti-graft watchdog to probe the matter, the counsel submitted that the petitioner had been appearing before the NAB investigation team and assured that he would continue to appear in future as well.

However, the counsel stated that the petitioner was due to appear before the NAB and there was a possibility that the interrogators might arrest him. He pleaded with the bench to grant interim bail to the petitioner and restrain the bureau from arresting him.

After hearing the arguments, the bench granted pre-arrest interim bail to Rana Sanaullah and restrained NAB from arresting him. The bench also issued notices to the Bureau for March 25.