LAHORE: A special court (Central-I) on Monday dismissed a petition of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to cancel pre-arrest bail of Leader of Opposition in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif in a money laundering case.

Shehbaz did not appear before the court on account of the hearing before the Supreme Court on the petitions of the opposition parties challenging dismissal of a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan by the National Assembly speaker.

His counsel, Amjad Pervez, filed an application for a one-time exemption from personal appearance before the court. However, Leader of Opposition in Punjab Assembly Hamza Shehbaz appeared before the court.

A special prosecutor of the FIA opposed the application of Shehbaz saying there was no need for the suspect’s presence in the Supreme Court.

Advocate Pervez said Shehbaz had to file a separate petition before the apex court and was busy in consultation with his counsel in Islamabad.

Opposing the petition of the FIA against bail to Shehbaz, the defence counsel argued that the court could not review its earlier order unless there was any illegality. He said the FIA challenged the bail only to please one individual.

He argued that the Supreme Court, in a number of cases, observed that the parliamentarians were entitled to relaxation from courts to attend sessions of the assemblies.

The FIA had asked the court to withdraw its bail granting order as Shehbaz had been misusing the concession of bail.

However, Presiding Judge Ijaz Hassan Awan dismissed the petition of the FIA and extended the bail of Shehbaz and his son Hamza till April 11.

The judge also dismissed a petition of Muhammad Usman, one of the suspects, challenging the jurisdiction of the court to hear the case.

The judge summoned all the suspects on the next hearing for indictment.

The FIA had booked the leader of opposition and his sons, Hamza and Suleman, under sections 419, 420, 468, 471, 34 and 109 (financial fraud, impersonation and forgery) of the Pakistan Penal Code and sections 5(2) and 5(3) (criminal misconduct) of the Prevention of Corruption Act and read with Section 3/4 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act.

The challan submitted by the FIA comprises 66 pages along with seven additional volumes of 4,370 page documentary evidence.

Published in Dawn, April 5th, 2022