LAHORE: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has decided to challenge in the Supreme Court the bail granted to National Assembly Opposition Leader Shehbaz Sharif on the Exit Control List (ECL) in connection with the wealth and money laundering cases against him.
In April, the Lahore High Court (LHC) granted post-arrest bail to Shehbaz in a money laundering reference filed against him by the dirty money watchdog.
“The decision to challenge the LHC ruling is in line with the Constitution and taken without any pressure,” reports citing NAB sources said.
In a related development, the Lahore chapter of the agency has written a letter to its Headquarters in Islamabad, requesting to place Shehbaz on the ECL in connection with the wealth and money laundering cases against him, it emerged earlier in the day.
Dated April 28, the letter was written to NAB Director General (Operations) Husnain Ahmad. It also requested the higher-ups to challenge the LHC decision to grant one-time permission to Shehbaz to travel abroad.
The high court announced its order was announced after Shehbaz petitioned it, saying he is a cancer survivor who now needs treatment abroad. The court ruled that he may travel to London between May 8 and July 3.
The verdict drew criticism from the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan, which said it will explore legal options to stop Shehbaz from leaving. Angered, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry described the ruling as a “joke” that he said could help the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president “escape the law as his brother did” in 2019.
Subsequently, over the weekend, the Federal Investigation Authority (FIA) “placed” Shehbaz on “another list”, keeping him from leaving the country.
Shehbaz was scheduled to leave for Doha on a Qatar Airways flight from the Allama Iqbal International Airport in Lahore in the wee hours of Saturday. After spending ten days in mandatory isolation in the Qatar capital, he had planned to jet off to London.
However, when he arrived at the airport to board the flight, FIA officials present there told him he could not catch the flight because his name was placed on a “blacklist”.
