Allegations of money laundering will prove false: Hamza Shahbaz
He said incumbent government has ruined the countrys economy.
LAHORE (Dunya News) – Leader of Opposition in Punjab Assembly Hamza Shahbaz on Thursday said that he was not afraid of the hollow threats of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and Prime Minister Imran Khan and the allegations of money laundering would prove false.
Talking to media in Lahore on Thursday, he said that the country’s economic situation is dangerous, adding that we gave chance to the incumbent government that they might perform but they ruined the country’s economy.
The opposition leader said that the members of the government themselves declared the economic situation dangerous.
The prime minister instead of improving the economic situation, gives tasks to the cabinet members.
Hamza Shahbaz gets pre-arrest bail
On Wednesday, the Lahore High Court (LHC) had granted pre-arrest bail to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) senior leader and the Leader of the Opposition in the Punjab Assembly Hamza Shahbaz till April 17 after he filed two separate petitions amid fear that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) may arrest him in the Saaf Pani and Ramzan Sugar Mills cases.
On April 8, in assets beyond known sources of income and money laundering case, the LHC barred the NAB from arresting Hamza for investigation by granting him pre-arrest bail till April 17 and directed the bureau to submit its response on the matter.
On the other hand, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Lahore team had also prepared a charge sheet against Hamza Shahbaz as a special prosecutor and an eight-member legal team appeared before the court. Whereas, advocate Amjad Pervaiz represented Hamza.
Punjab home department had formulated a foolproof security measures for the hearing.
A heavy contingent of police and security personnel was deployed at the surroundings of the court, accountability court and at the Mall Road to avoid any untoward incident.
LHC refrains NAB from arresting Hamza
Earlier on Saturday, the LHC had refrained the bureau from arresting Hamza while giving him a protective bail till April 8 after he had filed a pre-arrest bail plea on the same day.
In the petition, Hamza had claimed that NAB’s team had carried out a raid at his residence without a prior notice while the LHC has instructed officials to give a prior notice before his arrest.
The plea further pleaded with the court for suspending the arrest warrants and an action against the NAB for “contempt of court”.
A team of the NAB swooped on the 96-H house, believed to be Shehbaz Sharif’s residence, allegedly because Hamza Shehbaz was "not cooperating" in the ongoing investigation in the case.
Contrarily, the NAB, in a press release, disclosed that its Lahore team had raided the residence for arresting him in the assets beyond means case and a money laundering case.
Importantly, the press release noted that the Supreme Court has made it very clear that NAB did not need to inform suspects prior to their arrest.
Moreover, the NAB statement maintained, "Therefore, there has been a clear violation of the law by Hamza Shehbaz."
"Those who interfere in NAB’s legal action and the operations of the state will be proceeded against as per the law," the statement had read.
Besides, a First Information Report (FIR) was also lodged on Saturday against Hamza Shehbaz’s guards on an application filed by the NAB over the matter that Hamza’s guards had manhandled members of the NAB team, tore their clothes, and threatened their lives.
According to police, the FIR includes clauses of interference in official matters, torture, hooliganism and issuance of threats.
The FIR was registered on an application filed by a driver Mumtaz Hussain, working for the NAB, that accuses Hamza’s security guards namely Abdul Rehman, Shahbaz Khan and Muhammad Saleem and six other guards for attacking, resisting and threatening the bureau’s team.
NAB’s raid on Friday
A team of the NAB Lahore on Friday returned without arresting Hamza, despite of having an arrest warrant, after facing resistance from his security guards and party workers.
Later, the NAB requested the interior ministry to put his name on the Exit Control List (ECL).
Following the incident, Hamza addressed a press conference and presented a document that he described as a high court order.
"I have a court order saying that I will be informed 10 days prior to arrest," he had said, adding that the court told him he would be given an opportunity to make a case for obtaining a bail as well.
Money laundring allegation
NAB sources revealed that Hamza Shahbaz had declared property worth 2 crore in 2003 while his assets grew 2,000 percent during the PML-N’s tenure of the government. The opposition leader had allegedly laundered Rs85 billion. Officials revealed that they had already detained several facilitators of the Sharif family in the same case.
