The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday granted pre-arrest bail to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) senior leader and the Leader of the Opposition in the Punjab Assembly Hamza Shahbaz till April 17 after he filed two separate petitions amid fear that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) may arrest him in the Saaf Pani and Ramzan Sugar Mills cases.
On April 8, in assets beyond known sources of income and money laundering case, the LHC barred the NAB from arresting Hamza for investigation by granting him pre-arrest bail till April 17 and directed the bureau to submit its response on the matter.
On the same day, the NAB issued another summon to Hamza to appear before its investigation team on April 10 at 11am in an ongoing probe into assets beyond means case.
Last week, a NAB team twice swooped on the 96-H house, believed to be Shehbaz Sharif’s residence, allegedly because Hamza Shehbaz was "not cooperating" in the ongoing investigation in the assets beyond means case.
However, during the first raid on Friday, the team returned without arresting Hamza despite of having an arrest warrant, after facing resistance from his security guards and party workers.
During the raid on Saturday, NAB team was embroiled in a nearly five-hour-long standoff with his private security and supporters outside the residency and returned around 4pm after the LHC issued a short order, granting interim bail to Hamza until April 8.
On April 8, his bail was extended till April 17 in the same case.
Advocate Amjad Pervez, representing Hamza in the LHC, argued that Hamza had filed a request for interim bail and if he was taken under custody, he would lose his constitutional right to appear before the court in order to secure bail.