LHC grants 10-day protective bail to Mohammad Safdar

The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday granted 10-days protective bail to retired captain Mohammad Safdar, the son-in-law of ousted premier Nawaz Sharif, who is facing inquiries initiated by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

He was ordered by the court to deposit two bonds of Rs500,000 each as surety.

Earlier in the day, Safdar had moved the LHC seeking protective bail as the petitioner feared that NAB officials would arrest him.

The development comes as the petitioner failed to appear before NAB’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chapter despite multiple notices. Safdar in his plea mentioned that the authorities had delivered some notices to his Mansehra residence, whereas he was currently residing in Jati Umra due to medical reasons.

Safdar added that he came to know that NAB had sent several notices to him when he was serving a jail term at Adiyala jail but said that he did not receive any of them.

He said he feared that the NAB officials would arrest him and requested the court to grant him protective bail.

He had been given a year in jail in the Avenfield corruption reference for not cooperating with NAB, and aiding and abeting Nawaz and his wife, Maryam Nawaz. Safdar went underground after the verdict but two days after the judgement, surrendered before the authorities and was shifted to jail. The Islamabad High Court had recently suspended his jail term.

Currently, he is facing several inquiries and at least two cases under Sections 147, 149, 188 and 341 of the Pakistan Penal Code.

Source: Dawn News