ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Monday challenged the Lahore High Court (LHC)’s decision to grant bail to Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif in the Supreme Court.
NAB has already moved the SC against the grant of bail to Shehbaz in the Ramzan Sugar Mills case.
The petition stated that the Lahore High Court (LHC) has not reviewed the facts and regulations in the Ashiana Iqbal housing case into right aspects.
The top court had already defined standard for the provision of bail in NAB cases, adding that the high court’s verdict went contrary with the outlined standards set up by the judiciary.
Shehbaz Sharif and former principal secretary to the prime minister Fawad Hassan Fawad are key accused in the case.
Bails to the accused must be suspended after nullifying the LHC’s verdict, the petition pleaded the court.
On February 14, the LHC had approved the bail plea of Shehbaz Sharif, ordering his release.
A two-judge bench comprising Justice Malik Shahzad and Justice Mirza Waqas had given the verdict while hearing the bail petitions.
On February 21, the high court had released a 22-page detailed verdict in the Ashiana Housing scandal and a 20-page decision on the Ramzan Sugar Mills case.
In its detailed verdict, the court said the board of Punjab Land Development Authority was behind transferring a project contract to Lahore Development Authority. However, the NAB had claimed the former chief minister had misused his authority to transfer the project.
The court said no charge of financial irregularity was imposed on Shehbaz in the Ashiana case.
Similarly, the former CM has also not been accused of any financial irregularity in the Ramzan Sugar Mills case.
According to court, the NAB had raised objection only on one project regarding construction of a drain line and it was constructed on plea of MPA Rehmatullah. “The NAB, instead of investigating the role of MPA, made him a witness,” the court stated.
