LAHORE: In an unprecedented development on Wednesday, acountability judge Masood Arshad stopped the hearing in Rana Sanaullah’s case midway upon learning that he had been repatriated to his parent department, the Lahore High Court (LHC).
It emerged, shortly after the development, that a notification from the Ministry of Law and Justice, dated Aug 26, had recalled three accountability judges – judge Masood Arshad, judge Mushtaq Ilahi and judge Muhammad Naeem Arshad.
Before being called in, Justice Naeem Arshad was presiding over the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case against PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz and her cousin Yousuf Abbas Sharif, Ramzan Sugar Mills case against National Assembly Opposition Leader Shehbaz Sharif and money laundering cases against Punjab Assembly Opposition Leader Hamza Shahbaz and his brother Salman Shehbaz.
The judge had been tasked with hearing these cases as the main judge was on summer holidays.
On the contrary, judge Ilahi was not hearing any high-profile cases. He, however, was on the benches hearing a number of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) cases.
Interestingly, no reason has been mentioned in the order sent by the ministry.
“I have just received a Whatsapp message [stating that] the LHC has repatriated me. [Therefore] I cannot lend my expertise to this case anymore,” said Justice Arshad as he called a halt to court hearing midway.
The defense counsel, while talking to the media outside the court, said that this [development] was unprecedented. “It seems like the government is trying to decide which judge they want the verdict from,” he alleged.
