LHC approves Rana Sanaullah's bail in assets beyond income case

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) has granted interim bail to Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) leader Rana Sanaullah in assets beyond income case, ARY News reported on Monday.

A two-member bench of the high court heard the bail petition of Rana Sanaullah in the assets case.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) prosecutor Faisal Bukhari told the court that Sanaullah had received Rs127 million salary while performing duties on different public positions from 1990 to 2019, whereas, he don’t have any other sources of generating income.

He detailed that Sanaullah’s inherited properties include a 10-Kanal agricultural land and two houses. The case against the PML-N leader being proceeded in the anti-narcotics court was different in its genre.

Read: Drug smuggling case: Court defers indictment of Rana Sanaullah again

The prosecutor said that the anti-corruption watchdog is holding an investigation into Sanaullah’s assets as he had not disclosed all of its properties. He added that Rana Sanaullah had not mentioned his 14 properties anywhere and it is necessary to arrest the accused for the purpose of investigation.

Sanaullah’s counsel Amjad Pervaiz told the LHC judge that the anti-corruption watchdog has failed to provide any evidence against his client.

He said that NAB was giving arguments about the same properties for which the anti-narcotics force (ANF) is alleging for being owned by Sanaullah through drug smuggling. Pervaiz added that Sanaullah had declared all of his properties in the tax returns.

The court remarked that it will become a matter of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to investigate if Sanaullah did not mention the actual market value of his properties.

Read: LHC extends interim bail of Rana Sanaullah in assets case

After the conclusion of arguments from both sides, the court approved the interim bail of Rana Sanaullah against the two surety bonds of Rs5 million each.

Earlier on January 28, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had moved to the Lahore High Court (LHC) to take up Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) leader Rana Sanaullah’s bail petition in assets beyond income case.

In its plea to LHC, the anti-corruption watchdog had stated that Sanaullah is currently on interim bail in the case. The accused had been granted interim bail in March last year in the assets case.

It further stated that the hearing was not fixed due to non-availability of a bench. The bureau had pleaded the LHC for early hearing of Sanaullah’s bail plea and give a verdict after hearing the arguments from both sides.

It is pertinent to mention here that NAB had launched assets beyond income and money laundering probe against Sanaullah. After getting a notice from NAB, the PML-N leader got interim bail from LHC.