NAB arrests Hamza after LHC turns down bail plea

LAHORE: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has arrested Leader of the Opposition in the Punjab Assembly Hamza Shahbaz from Lahore High Court (LHC) premises after it rejected his bail petition in the Ramzan Sugar Mills and assets beyond means cases.

This is the second opposition politician to be taken into NAB custody in as many days. Just a day earlier, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari was arrested after his interim bail petition was refused by the Islamabad High Court in a fake bank accounts case.

The two-member divisional bench, comprising Justice Syed Mazahar Naqvi and Justice Muhammad Waheed Khan, dismissed the bail petitions after Hamza’s counsel opted to withdraw them.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader and his counsel Salman Aslam Butt appeared before the bench on Tuesday as did NAB’s prosecution team. A large number of PML-N workers were also present inside and outside the court premises, while there were elaborate security arrangements outside the court. At the outset of the proceedings, Butt advanced arguments in connection with money laundering allegations against his client and requested the court to hear contempt petitions filed against the anti-graft authorities for allegedly ignoring court directions regarding the arrest of his client.

He argued that as per law, arrest warrants could not be issued till the completion of the inquiry. He said the inquiry was in process regarding money laundering allegations, and Hamza was also cooperating with the bureau in this regard.

He contended that arrest warrants of Hamza were issued “without any reason” and argued the bureau had only provided documents regarding the grounds of arrest, inquiry and investigation, whereas, the documents of financial monitoring unit (FMU) had not been provided despite requests for the purpose.

Hamza’s counsel argued the documents were necessary to move ahead in the matter. The bench, however, declined the request observing the FMU documents could not be provided at this stage.

In response to a court query, the NAB prosecutor argued that arrest warrants were issued as per law, whereas, the FMU detected Hamza Shahbaz’s involvement in money laundering. He claimed the Shahbaz Sharif family’s assets “increased many times” during the past years and they were beyond known sources of income. He submitted that not only Hamza, but other members of the family were also involved in money laundering, adding that Hamza “failed to provide details about the sources of his income”. He also said Hamza was not cooperating with the NAB team in investigations.