IHC summons Captain Safdar on Dec 14 after NAB challenges his bail
- By Web Desk -
- Nov 30, 2017
ISLAMABAD: Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday summoned former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s son-in-law, Capt (retd) Safdar in a case pertaining to granting him bail by an accountability court in a graft reference.
A two-judge IHC bench heard the plea of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) seeking dismissal of the bail granted to Safdar.
At the outset of court proceedings today, the NAB deputy prosecutor general informed the bench that the accountability court issued non-bailable arrest warrants for Safdar, after which he was briefly taken into custody and produced before the court on Oct 9.
The NAB prosecutor asserted that the accountability court did not have the authority to release Safdar on bail.
Hearing the NAB prosecutor’s argument, Justice Aamer Farooq issued summons to ex-PM Sharif’s son-in-law to appear before the court on December 14 and adjourned the hearing.
On Nov 3, the NAB approached the Islamabad High Court, challenging the bail granted to the former prime minister’s son-in-law retired Captain Safdar in a corruption reference.
On Oct 9, the accountability court in Islamabad had granted bail to Capt Safdar in the case related to the Sharif family’s London flats.
NAB prosecutor general Waqas Dar filed a petition in the high court, contending that the trial court went beyond its jurisdiction while granting bail to Safdar since it lacked powers to approve the bail after issuing non-bailable warrants for his arrest.
Only high courts or Supreme Court had jurisdiction to entertain bail applications in such cases, NABr argues in the plea.
Citing Capt Safdar and the accountability court as respondents, the NAB has pleaded to the high court to revoke his bail.
On Oct 2, the trial court had issued non-bailable warrants for the arrest of Safdar for failing to appear before it. He was taken into custody by a NAB team as soon as he stepped out of the Rawal lounge of Benazir Bhutto International Airport after his arrival from London on Oct 9 along with his wife Maryam Nawaz.
On that day, the NAB had produced him before the accountability court, which subsequently granted him bail against a surety of Rs five million and ordered his release.
Nawaz Sharif and his two sons have been nominated in all three references, while Maryam and her husband have been named in a reference related to the family’s London flats.