KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Friday granted Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) leader Miftah Ismail a one-week protective bail, a day after the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) team raided his house to arrest him in liquefied natural gas (LNG) import case.
After arresting former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi in the same case, NAB Chairman Javed Iqbal had signed his arrest warrant and directed the NAB officials to take him into custody from Karachi.
Five members of a NAB team including women entered the house of the former finance minister to execute arrest warrants, but he was not found.
Ismail had sought a pre-arrest bail plea from the high court. His lawyer Advocate Haider Waheed said protective bail was sought so that his client could get time to contact the relevant court as the case was based in Islamabad. The bail has been accepted against the surety bonds worth Rs50,000.
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Talking informally to journalists, he said the NAB did not need to conduct a raid at his house as he always appeared before the court whenever he was summoned. He said he had received the court’s summon after 3:00 pm on Thursday.
Former managing director of Pakistan State Oil Sheikh Imranul Haque, who is also wanted in the LNG import case, also appeared before the SHC with Miftah Ismail.
The NAB had on Thursday arrested PML-N stalwart Shahid Khaqan Abbasi in Lahore.
Teams of NAB Lahore and NAB Rawalpindi had intercepted Shahid Khaqan Abbasi near Thokar Niaz Beg in Lahore while he was on his way to attend a press conference. The NAB chairman had already issued arrest warrants for the suspect in Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) case. The development came after he skipped the court hearing. An accountability court had summoned Abbasi in the case on Thursday.
In April this year, the federal government had imposed a travel ban on Abbasi, Miftah Ismail, and five others in the same case.
Senior PML-N leaders including Maryam Nawaz, Ahsan Iqbal, Muhammad Zubair and others have expressed frustration over the happening.
