NAB stopped from arresting Amir Muqam without warrants

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Wednesday restrained the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) from arresting Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) leader Amir Muqam without the issuance of warrants for arrest, ARY News reported.

A bench of the high court, however, allowed the corruption watchdog to continue with its investigation against Amir Muqam and directed it to furnish comments on his petition on the next hearing.

NAB would have to issue arrest warrants for the petitioner ten days before his arrest, if it needed his custody, ruled the court.

The PML-N leader’s lawyer stated before the court that the bureau had been carrying out investigation against his client for allegedly amassing assets disproportionate to his sources of income. “NAB summons people for inquiry and arrests them,” he added.

Read More: PHC restrains NAB from arresting Capt Safdar sans warrants

He pleaded with the bench to bar NAB from arresting Amir Muqam without the issuance of arrest warrants.

Earlier, on Jan 10, the PHC had restrained NAB from arresting former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s son-in-law Capt (retd) Safdar without arrest warrants.

The restraining order came on a petition filed by Safdar who approached the high court fearing his arrest by the corruption watchdog in a case pertaining to accumulation of assets beyond known sources of income.

The petitioner’s counsel contended before the court that NAB could arrest his client in an inquiry being carried out against him. “NAB summons in one case but arrests in another case,” he said in reference to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president Shehbaz Sharif’s arrest inside the NAB Lahore office in the Ashiana Iqbal housing case as he was summoned for questioning in another graft case.