LAHORE: National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Wednesday submitted a supplementary report in the money laundering case against Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza, declaring the duo as “innocent.”
Judge Qamar-ul-Zaman heard the case against the members of the Sharif family.
As the hearing commenced, Hamza Shehbaz, the son of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, filed a petition seeking exemption from attendance on medical grounds, which was approved by the court. Anwar Hussain, Shehbaz Sharif’s counsel, appeared in court on behalf of his client.
The supplementary report pointed out that after a re-investigation, the Prime Minister, his wife Nusrat Shehbaz, son Hamza Shehbaz, and other accused were found to have no involvement in the matter. It said that the accused’s corruption allegations could not be substantiated under the NAB Amendment Act.
The court, however, put off further hearing till May 24 and extended the interim bails of Haroon Yousaf Aziz, Prime Minister’s son-in-law, and co-accused Syed Muhammad Tahir Naqvi until May 24.
The NAB had earlier alleged that the Sharif family members were involved in money laundering and illegal transfer of funds through fake accounts. The FIA had submitted a challan against Shehbaz Sharif and Hamza in December 2020 for their alleged involvement in laundering an amount of Rs16 billion in the sugar scam case. The investigation team had detected 28 Benami accounts of the Shehbaz family through which money laundering of Rs16.3bn was committed during 2008 to 2018. The Sharif family consistently denied any involvement in money laundering or other illegal financial activities and maintained that the case against them is politically motivated.
Suleman Shehbaz, who was absconding in the United Kingdom, was also booked in the case along with 14 other people.
The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had already given a clean chit to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s son, Suleman Shehbaz, saying that no evidence of corruption was found against him in the investigation.
