Sharif’s brother granted bail
Protection against arrest given till June 17, a day after anti-graft team raided his home
APakistani court yesterday granted pre-arrest bail till June 17 to Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif, a day after anti-graft team raided his residence to arrest him in cases related to money laundering and assets beyond known sources of income.
Shehbaz, who is the president of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and younger brother of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, was granted bail till June 17 by a Lahore High Court division bench, Dawn newspaper reported. The court also asked him to submit a surety bond worth Rs500,000.
During the hearing, Shehbaz’s lawyers claimed that even though he was summoned by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on June 2, warrants were dated May 28, implying that the anti-corruption watchdog had already decided to arrest him, the paper said. His legal team had filed the pre-arrest bail petition on June 1, a day before he was required to appear before the NAB. However, the bail petition could not be fixed for hearing before the bench on Tuesday.
Also on Tuesday, for a third time, Shehbaz had refused to appear before NAB, citing health concerns. “It has been widely reported in the media that some NAB officials have tested positive for Covid-19. Please appreciate [that] I am a cancer survivor and 69 years old. I have been advised limited exposure on account of the peculiar background of low immunity,” he said ia statement submitted to the NAB.