LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Wednesday issued a notice to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on a bail petition moved by former Punjab senior minister Abdul Aleem Khan in an inquiry against him on charges of possessing assets beyond means and having undeclared offshore companies.

A two-judge bench, headed by Justice Malik Shahzad Ahmad Khan, took up the petition, heard initial arguments of Khan`s counsel Syed Ali Zafar and sought a written reply from the NAB by April 3.

The counsel mainly argued that Mr Khan had been falsely implicated in the case and illegally arrested by the NAB only to ruin his political career, damage his reputation and restrain him from serving the people of his constituency.

He said the NAB miserablyfailed to produce any evidence to establish the allegations of possessing assets beyond means. He said the petitioner`s assets had been declared in his wealth statements and other filings, and he did not possess any assets that had not been declared.

Moreover, he said, each and every asset, income and sources had been disclosed before the Federal Board of Revenue authorities and the same record had been given to the NAB authorities as well.

The counsel argued that the NAB`s allegations that the petitioner`s parents acted as benamidars for the petitioner and that he held assets through them were false.

Mr Zafar submitted that under the law a person was innocent until proven guilty and as per Article 10-A of the Constitution every person was entitled to a fair and proper trial. He said the matter of the petitioner was clearly one of further inquiry in which the NAB had yet to procure evidence. Therefore, he said, his client could not be kept behind bars till the NAB was collecting further information. He asked the court to release AleemKhan on post-arrest bail and to declare his arrest illegal.

The NAB had arrested Aleem Khan on Feb 6 when he appeared before its combined investigation team. On March 5, an accountability court had denied the bureau further custody of Khan and sent him to jail on judicial remand.

AHAD CHEEMA: Former director general of Lahore Development Authority (LDA), Ahad Khan Cheema, on Wednesday moved the Lahore High Court for post-arrest bailin areference ofassets beyond means made by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

The arrest of Mr Cheema was first high-profile arrest in Punjab by the NAB before the 2018 general election. The bureau had arrested him on Feb 21, 2018 when he appeared before its combined investigation team in inquiry into the Ahsiana-i-Iqbal housing scam.

Later, the NAB also initiated other inquiries [against him] including LDA-City scam and accumulating assets beyond means.

An accountability court had sent him to jail on a judicial remand on March 21, 2018 enabling him to file bail petition before the high court.However, Cheema took more than one year to file his first bail petition in the assets case. Sources said Cheema had been waiting for some `appropriate` time to file the ball petition.

The bail petition filed through advocates Azam Nazir Tarar and Amjad Pervez states that the allegations by the NAB are baseless and without any evidence. It says the trial of the case is still at initial stage and its conclusion is not possible on account of the peculiar nature of the charge. It pleads that incarceration for an indefinite period would be tantamount to punishment before trial.

The petitioner submits that he is a government servant and there is no apprehension of absconding if he is released on ball.

The NAB alleged that Cheema owned moveable and immoveable properties in his own name along with benami assets worth around Rs600 million. It accused Cheema of accumulating the assets beyond his known sources of income and on the basis of corrupt practices as defined under section 9 (A) (V) of the National Accountability Ordinance 1999.