LAHORE: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has asked the Lahore High Court to deny post-arrest bail to Leader of Opposition in Punjab Assembly Hamza Shehbaz in a reference of the money laundering and illegal assets as there are no extraordinary circumstances that could be invoked to get the relief.

A division bench seized with the bail petition of Hamza had directed the NAB to submit its reply would resume its hearing on February 23.

The NAB submitted in its reply that the court has already dismissed an earlier bail petition of the under-trial prisoner on merits. “The petitioner has filed the fresh petition for the bail on additional grounds of “hardship” and “delay” the reply said and added that normally bail is allowed to on accused on the ground of delay only where the delay in the trial or the period of custody of the accused is inordinate. It pleaded that no such extraordinary circumstances have been found in the case of the petitioner to justify the grounds of the delay or hardship. All the allegations levelled by the petitioner on the bureau are based on mere assumptions, the reply said.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021