LAHORE - An accountability court on Wednesday extended for 14 days the physical remand of Opposition Leader in the Punjab Assembly Hamza Shehbaz as NAB submitted the suspect was not cooperating with it in the assets-beyond- means case.
Hamza was also produced before Special Judge Accountability Court Ameer Muhammad Khan on expiry of his physical remand period.
NAB Prosecutor Hafiz Asadullah told the court that the suspect was was not cooperating with NAB in investigations, and requested the court for extending his physical remand for another 15 days.
In reply to a court query NAB official said the PML-N leader had served 28 days on physical remand after his arrest in the case. He submitted that Hamza purchased a property in Model Town Lahore for Rs16.8 million while the actual value of the property was Rs140 million. The suspect had not responded to the NAB’s questions in this connection, he added.
The bureau prosecutor said that Hamza had also failed to apprise it about the sum of Rs55 million transferred to his accounts during 2005-2007.
Likewise, the official said, the suspect could not satisfy the NAB investigators regarding the persons who had transferred Rs180 million to his accounts from abroad. He further said that that the NAB had sought record of his accounts and he would be probed further on the availability of the required record.
On the other side, defence counsel Amjad Pervaiz opposed the NAB’s request to extend his client’s physical remand. He submitted that Hamza had provided all the record for the accountability watchdog.
The prosecutor said that he had not disclosed the sources from where he bought the house of 96-H Model Town and the property undeclared in the tax returns.
The defence counsel replied that the property was owned by his client’s mother, and she had been filing her tax returns. He further argued that the case was related to assets beyond means and not corruption.
He said that in 2007-2008, his client was not a public office holder while he received all amounts from abroad through proper channel.
Meanwhile, Hamza Shehbaz, who is on judicial remand in Ramzan Sugar Mills case till July 20, submitted that he should be remanded in the NAB’s custody for 90 days to satisfy it. However, the judge remarked that it had no concern with such things, and asked Hamza to restrain himself to the issue.
After hearing both the parties, the court extended THE physical remand of Hamza till July 24 by accepting the NAB’s request. The court directed for producing the suspect on expiry of the remand term.
The NAB authorities arrested Hamza after a Lahore High Court division bench, headed by Justice Syed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi, rejected his pre-arrest bail petitions in Ramzan Sugar Mills and assets beyond means cases, on account of being withdrawn.
Meanwhile, police made stringent security measures in and outside the judicial complex by blocking the adjoining roads for routine traffic. The litigant public was denied entry to the complex.