LAHORE: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) today (Saturday) has issued a show-cause notice to Leader of the Opposition in the Punjab Assembly Hamza Shahbaz, asking him to provide a money trail as it conducts a probe into allegations of money laundering.
According to details, the notice was served under Section 9 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2010. Hamza has been given 30 days to provide all supporting documentation for the money trail.
“Failure to do so within the stipulated period will result in his property being seized by the government,” the notice said, adding that Hamza Shahbaz must appear before the FIA by the month’s end.
The PML-N leader is directed to bring with him documentation pertaining to the vehicles owned, his bank account details, besides shares, jewellery, cash and prize bonds owned. He will have to supplement this with evidence that the assets “are not proceeds of crime”.
On June 30, Hamza Shahbaz had appeared before the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in connection with its ongoing investigation into alleged money laundering of Rs25 billion through the sugar mills owned by the Sharif family.
In a written reply, Hamza Shahbaz stated that he remained behind the bars for 22 months in a case instituted by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) but the national graft buster failed to prove corruption of even a single penny.
A Lahore court on June 21 granted interim bail to Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif and his son Hamza Shahbaz in the investigation into the Ramzan Sugar Mills scandal.
Both were ordered to submit bail bonds of Rs1 million each. The police was told not to arrest them till July 10.
