LHC adjourns Shehbaz's bail hearing till Feb 11

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC), on the request of National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) special prosecutor, adjourned the hearing of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz(PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif’s bail plea till February 11.

A two -judge bench, on Wednesday, heard the bail petition filed by the leader of the opposition in National Assembly, Shehbaz Sharif in a case pertaining to Paragon Housing City scam.

As the hearing went under way, NAB’s counsel told the court that PLDC’s board of directors had to give the housing contract but it had not happened. The counsel said that Shehbaz Sharif as then chief minister had cancelled the contract and announced to re-exercise the process.

The court asked the NAB’s counsel that did he want to say that the contract was cancelled to give some favor to Paragon? The judge asked the lawyer about the relation between Shehbaz Sharif and the Paragon society?

The NAB’s lawyer told the court that Khawaja Saad Rafique was the owner of Paragon and he was the blue eyed personality of then Punjab government. He said that Shehbaz Sharif had illegally transferred the project to LDA.

The special prosecutor pleaded the court to give him some time to bring more evidences on the record. Accepting the request of NAB’s special prosecutor, LHC adjourned the hearing till February 11.

Earlier, the Lahore High Court (LHC), on January 29, had directed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to submit its reply on a bail petition of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Shehbaz Sharif by February 06.

The bench had said that the case would be heard on day to day basis. Shehbaz Sharif in his petition sought bail in Ashiana and Ramzan Sugar Mills cases against him.

The LHC bench expressed anger over NAB’s failure to submit its reply in the court and seeking more time. The court also allowed the defence lawyer to present his arguments.