Court extends bails of Shehbaz, Hamza till Aug 16

A court has extended the pre-arrest bail of PML-N President and opposition leader in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza Sharif in sugar and money-laundering scandal till Aug 16, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

Sessions court additional judge Hamid Hussain heard the case on Monday in Lahore. Shahbaz had prayed the court through his counsel to adjourn the hearing as he had to go to Islamabad to attend the National Assembly session. Both Shehbaz and Hamza were not present when the court started the hearing of the case. 

The FIA director called the attention of the court to the absence of Shehbaz and Hamza praying that the case could be dismissed on the absence of the petitioners.

The court ordered the counsel of the PML-N leader to ask Shehbaz and Hamza Sharif to reach the court in 30 minutes, otherwise, their bails would be dismissed. 

Shehbaz along with PML-N leader Atta Tarar reached the court. His counsel prayed to the court to adjourn the hearing as Shehbaz had to depart to the federal capital to attend the National Assembly session. He further told the court that Hamza, too, was busy due to the Punjab Assembly session. 

Accepting the request, the court put off hearing of the case till Aug 16. 

The court also asked the FIA to submit an inquiry report of the case to the court during the next hearing. 

The FIA accused Hamza of laundering Rs25 billion through his sugar mills. Hamza was the CEO of Ramzan Sugar Mills when the money was laundered. 

Outside the court building, a large number of PML-N activists were gathered to support their leaders. Strict security arrangements were made to avoid any untoward incident.

Reporters Jamal-ud-Din Jamali, Umar Aslam