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The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday granted post-arrest bail to Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif in a money laundering reference by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
The three-judge bench, headed by Justice Ali Baqar Najafi, gave a unanimous verdict. According to the short court order, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, the PML-N leader was required to furnish bail bonds of Rs5 million.
PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz took to Twitter to celebrate the decision and said that Shehbaz had finally been given justice.
“Every time Shehbaz was arrested, his only crime was being loyal to Nawaz Sharif,” she said. “If you want to challenge Shehbaz, then do it in [his] service [to the people].” Services rendered to the nation cannot be erased through false cases, she said.
Split ruling on bail plea
Shehbaz was arrested on September 28, 2020, in the money laundering reference after the LHC refused to further extend his pre-arrest bail. He was first granted interim pre-arrest bail last year on June 3. After his arrest, he remained in the bureau’s custody for 23 days till the trial court sent him on judicial remand on October 20, 2020.
A two-member bench of the LHC on Saturday had issued a split decision on the Shehbaz’s post-arrest bail petition and sent the matter to the chief justice for the nomination of a referee judge. Justice Sardar Mohammad Sarfraz Dogar, who had headed the bench, allowed the petition, while its other member, Justice Asjad Javed Ghural, had dismissed the same on merits.
LHC Chief Justice Muhammad Qasim Khan had then on Monday constituted a full bench to decide the issue. The new three-judge bench had held its first hearing on the post-arrest bail petition on Wednesday (yesterday).
Previously, Shehbaz was also arrested by NAB on Oct 5, 2018 in Ashiana-i-Iqbal Housing Scheme and later in Ramzan Sugar Mills case. The LHC had released him on bail in both cases on Feb 17, 2019.