LAHORE: A special court in Lahore on Saturday extended the interim bail of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his son Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz until May 28 in the Rs16 billion money laundering case.
However, presiding judge of the Special Court (Central-I), Ijaz Hassan Awan, issued arrest warrants for Suleman Shahbaz, Tahir Naqvi and Malik Maqsood in the case, stating that the three have already been declared absconders by the magistrate’s court. The hearing was subsequently adjourned until May 28.
During the hearing today, Judge Ijaz Hassan Awan complained that due to the security of the prime minister others coming to the court had to suffer.
Replying to his complaint, PM Shehbaz mentioned that he has asked his security not to stop anybody. “I am appearing before the court in order to maintain its dignity and follow the laws of the country,” the premier added.
The presiding judge of the special court (Central-I) summoned the deputy superintendent of police (DSP) and station house officer (SHO); however, both officials denied appearing in the court. At this, the judge noted that the police do not adhere to the orders of the court.
Presenting his arguments in the court, Mohammad Amjad Pervaiz — counsel for PM Shehbaz and CM Hamza — said that charges were filed against his clients between 2008 and 2018 and the prosecution team had removed many of them in the challan.
He said that the record presented by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) is “insufficient” to prove the charges levelled against his clients.
The premier’s counsel argued that he has no connection with sugar mills and “none of the witness statements corroborated that he was a part of the sugar mill management.”
Shehbaz addresses court
Speaking in the court, Shehbaz said that the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency (NCA) had conducted an investigation for nearly two years but could not find “even one rupee of corruption” against him.
The prime minister said he had lived in the UK and acknowledged to have done business there, but maintained that the cases against him were “political”. At this point, Judge Awan said he had issued an order to declare Shehbaz an absconder.
For his part, Shehbaz’s counsel argued that the court had issued orders for declaring those people absconders whose names had been highlighted in red in the FIA’s challan.
The FIA prosecutor said the suspects could take advantage of any legal loophole at which the judge asked why the prosecution had remained silent for four months.
Prosecutor Bajwa responded by requesting the court to begin action against the absconders mentioned in the challan. Subsequently, the court reserved its decision on declaring Shehbaz’s son Suleman an absconder.
The case
In December 2021, the FIA had submitted the challan against Shehbaz and Hamza before the special court for their alleged involvement in laundering an amount of Rs16 billion in the sugar scam case.
According to the FIA report submitted to the court, the investigation team has “detected 28 benami accounts of the Shehbaz family through which money laundering of Rs16.3bn was committed during 2008-18. The FIA examined the money trail of 17,000 credit transactions.”
The report added that the amount was kept in “hidden accounts” and given to Shehbaz in a personal capacity. This amount (Rs16 billion) has nothing to do with the sugar business (of Shehbaz family), it claimed.
The money received from the accounts of low-wage employees by Shehbaz was transferred outside Pakistan via hundi/hawala networks, ultimately destined for the beneficial use of his family members, the FIA had alleged.
