Lahore - The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday decided that the post-arrest bail petition filed by Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif would be heard on a daily basis, and sought a reply from the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) till February 6.
During the hearing, Shehbaz’s counsel contended that his client had been nominated in the Paragon Housing City scam case in spite of the fact that the latter had not been directly or indirectly involved in the case.
The court asked the defence counsel that it had been alleged that the Paragon was given benefit, and also asked about the owner of Paragon City scheme.
The replied that the Paragon City scheme was not owned by his client rather it was owned by Nadeem Zia while Shehbaz Sharif is not even acquainted with him.
The court also remarked that the Punjab Land Development Authority (PLDA) had the authority to award contracts for Ashiana Housing project. However, he said, Sharif transferred these powers to the LDA. The counsel replied that PLDC transferred its powers to the LDA in 2014. He said that not even an inch of land nor a penny was wasted in the project.
His counsel said, “There are no statements against Shehbaz in the reference filed by the NAB, even then he has been on physical remand for 50 days. Even terrorists are not even sent on remand for such long period. And on the other hand, the NAB is not even submitting a reply.”
Justice Malik Shehzad expressed his annoyance at NAB’s counsel for adopting “unprofessional attitude”, in response to which he sought adjournment for a week to file a reply in the petition.
On which, the judge rejected the request made by NAB’s counsel, and remarked that “You (NAB) have filed a reference and now your comments are not needed”. He said that Shehbaz’s bail plea would be heard on a daily basis. The court also said, “Seven months have passed and we will not allow further delay.”
The former chief minister’s counsel said the accusation is that the contract was cancelled to benefit Paragon City. This is only an allegation and not true, he said and added nothing illegal was done.
He said that the inquiry into the case started on January 10 and the PML-N leader was summoned on January 22. Released on May 7, the investigative report did not mention that he was involved in the scam, he said.
The court then inquired about Shehbaz’s relationship with the company to which his counsel denied his involvement in the case. He said that his clinet had nothing to do with housing company while the NAB had levelled several allegations against him.
Later, the court adjourned the hearing till February 6 and ordered NAB special prosecutor Akram Qureshi to file a reply till the next date of hearing.
The PML-N leader had filed the plea through his counsels Azam Nazir Tarar and Amjad Pervez. “Since I am under treatment for my health condition is not good, therefore the court should release me on bail,” he pleaded. He said the NAB had made the case against him on political grounds and in violation of the law. Sharif is facing inquiries into cases of Ashiana Housing Scheme and Ramzan Sugar Mills. A two-member bench of the LHC had sought record of Shehbaz’s incarceration from director general National Accountability Bureau (NAB).