Banking court extends interim bail of Shehbaz, Hamza till Jan 14

LAHORE (APP): A banking offences court Tuesday extended the interim bail of Opposition Leader in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif and his son, Hamza Shehbaz, till January 14 in the money laundering and sugar mill scam inquiry. The duo appeared before the Judge Sardar Tahir Sabir and got their attendance marked.
Later, the court allowed Shehbaz and Hamza to leave while allowing their request for the purpose.
The court was apprised that the counsel for Shehbaz and Hamza was busy in accountability court. The court was also requested to fix time for arguments of the counsel on the point of jurisdiction of the court to hear the matter.
Subsequently, the court adjourned the hearing of the bail pleas till 12.00pm.
Later, as the court resumed proceedings, Shehbaz Sharif appeared before the court along with his counsel Amjad Pervaiz. The counsel argued that the court granted interim bail to the co-accused but the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) did not raise any objection to their bail and neither challenged the orders of the interim bail before any superior court.
He submitted that in August, the FIA admitted that the banking court had jurisdiction to hear the matter but it raised an objection to the interim bail plea of Shehbaz Sharif on October 9. He submitted that although the agency had filed challan, it was incomplete. The court observed that the issue of jurisdiction could not be decided till the completion of investigations from the bankers.
The court sought a complete report from the agency within ten days and extended the interim bail of Shehbaz Sharif and Hamza till January 14.