LAHORE: A special court on Monday rejected the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA)’s plea seeking cancelation of the bail granted to PML-N’s Shehbaz Sharif which exempts him from personal appearance before the court.
Meanwhile, judge Ijaz Hassan Awan also rejected FIA’s bail cancellation application which was filed on the ground that no provision was available that gave a concession to an accused to be absent from court at the bail stage.
The judge was hearing the pre-arrest bails of Shehbaz and his son Hamza Shahbaz Sharif in an alleged money laundering case of Rs25 billion.
As the proceedings commenced today, Shehbaz’s counsel submitted an application seeking exemption for him from personal appearance as the opposition leader was busy in the country’s top court following the constitutional crises.
However, the FIA strongly opposed the version of the counsel contending the court that the SC had not summoned Shehbaz in person. FIA produced a copy of the SC’s order at which Shehbaz’s counsel raised questions as to how the copy could be considered a valid document.
Shedding light on FIA’s fresh bail cancellation application, the counsel further argued that it was very interesting that the authority had taken notice of the application which the FIA submitted two days before on the ground that no legal provision was available that gave a concession to an accused to be absent from court at the bail stage.
He also prayed to the court that his client is granted exemption from the personal appearance. The FIA’s representatives also submitted an application contending that Shehbaz remained absent a number of times from court due to his ailment or his engagements in political activities which were absolutely not justified.
It added that the “citation relied upon the accused Shehbaz Sharif and this court is misunderstood and misinterpreted by the counsel of the accused and this court dispensed with the attendance of the accused from personal appearance”. FIA prayed to the court that said order be recalled and the bail is dismissed.
Petitioners Shehbaz and his son Hamza in their pre-arrest bails had contended that the version of the FIA had nothing to do with reality.
They submitted that they had been implicated in a forged case merely to humiliate them and the allegations levelled on them by the concerned quarters are false and incorrect.
