The Lahore High Court on Wednesday extended pre-arrest bail of Leader of Opposition in Punjab Assembly Hamza Shahbaz till April 25 against cases of Ramzan Sugar Mills, Punjab Saaf Pani Company and assets beyond means filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). Police took strict security measures on the premises of high court before appearance of Hamza and no one was allowed to attend the proceedings except lawyers engaged in the case from both sides - the NAB and the petitioner.
The security personnel also denied access to media as majority of the reporters failed to enter the courtroom despite their names were mentioned in a list provided to the police by public relations department of the high court. The PML-N leaders and workers were also kept away from the block where a two-judge bench sat to hear the bail petitions. During the hearing, a NAB additional prosecutor told the bench that Hamza appeared before an investigation team of the bureau the other day but he failed to answer the interrogators' queries. He said Hamza took a plea that he would respond to the queries in the court.
Hamza's counsel however complained that the copies of a questionnaire and case record provided by the NAB were either incomplete or unreadable. He sought time to respond to the bureau's queries.
The bench also issued notice to the NAB on another petition of Hamza seeking contempt proceedings for conducting raids at his residence in violation of a court's order.
The opposition leader contended that the court in an order disposed of his previous bail petition with a direction to the NAB to communicate to him if it found any ground for his arrest so that he could approach the court of competent jurisdiction. However, he said the NAB issued warrants for arrest and raided his house twice in sheer violation of the court's order. He therefore, asked the court to initiate contempt proceedings against the NAB officials involved in conducting raids at his residence.