LHC orders release of Suhail Zia Butt in bank default case

[Lahore_Real_Estate]

* Orders accused to deposit Rs 2m in term of cash with the trial court

LAHORE: A division bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday granted bail to Suhail Zia Butt, a relative of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif and ordered his release.

The bench suspended the three years imprisonment, which an accountability court had awarded to him in 2001 for not appearing before the court in a bank default case.

Butt, a former MPA and father of PML-N MNA Umar Suhail Zia, had challenged his conviction on the charge of absconding from court.

The bench also directed the accused to deposit Rs 2 million in term of cash with the trial court. This is the default amount on the basis of which the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had filed a reference against him. Butt was arrested on September 1, 2010 against the warrants issued against him on January 12, 2001.

The bench had already condoned the delay of about nine years, which earlier hindered Butt from moving the appellate court against his conviction, under the law of limitation. The reference against Butt was filed during former president Pervez Musharraf’s regime for allegedly embezzling Rs 2 million of the National Industrial Finance Corporation (NIFC). Justice Chaudhry Ijaz Ahmad and Justice Ahmad Farooq Sheikh had comprised the division bench.