Lahore court accepts Suleman Shehbaz’s interim bail till Jan 7

Suleman Shehbaz was given pre-arrest bail on Friday on two distinct charges of money laundering and acquiring assets beyond known sources of income until January 7.

Suleman returned to Pakistan earlier this month after living in self-exile in London for four years. He is currently a suspect in a money laundering investigation being conducted by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), and the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has nominated him as a subject of an assets-beyond-means reference.

He has been labelled as a proclaimed offender in both instances

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has barred the NAB and FIA from detaining him before his return.

The IHC decision was made in response to Suleman’s application for protected bail, which would have allowed him to appear in court without being detained. He received a 14-day protective bail on December 13.

His attorney, Amjad Pervaiz, presented a motion for interim bail in the NAB case before an accountability court today following his surrender.

The court then ordered that Suleman be included in the probe and barred the NAB from arresting him until January 7.

The court subsequently granted him interim-pre-arrest bail and ordered him to present his national identification card as well as the NAB’s response to his plea at the following hearing.

The bail was approved in exchange for surety bonds of Rs. 500,000.