The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday declared as infructuous the six-year-old petition filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against former prime minister Shehbaz Sharif and Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz in separate NAB references.
The division bench comprising Justice Muhammad Amjad Rafiq and Justice Muhammad Jawad Zafar heard the pleas submitted by the NAB chairman.
Special Prosecutor Waris Ali Janjua appeared on behalf of NAB during the proceedings on Monday.
At the outset of the hearing, Justice Amjad Rafiq asked the NAB counsel what progress had been made in the case.
In response, the NAB prosecutor informed the bench that Shehbaz Sharif had already been acquitted along with all other accused persons in the reference. At the same time, Maryam Nawaz had also been cleared during the bureau’s investigation phase.
The prosecutor told the court that, in light of the acquittals, the petitions filed by the NAB chairman in both matters had become ineffective and no longer required adjudication.
Following these submissions, the Lahore High Court’s division bench declared the applications infructuous and disposed of them accordingly.
The channel further reported that Shehbaz Sharif had once travelled abroad without seeking the court’s permission while his trial was still pending.
The NAB chairman at the time had approached the Lahore High Court seeking issuance of arrest warrants for Shehbaz and requesting orders for his arrest.
In another matter, the NAB chairman had also challenged before the Lahore High Court Maryam Nawaz’s move to obtain bail from the accountability court during the bureau’s investigation.
The NAB chairman had filed these challenges in 2020 against orders issued by the Accountability Court, Lahore.
