Shehbaz and family face fresh NAB reference

Undeterred by allegations that it was being used for political victimisation, the country’s top anti-graft body has filed a fresh reference in an accountability court in Lahore accusing PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif and his family of money laundering involving a sum of over Rs7 billion.

Addressing a news conference on Wednesday, Adviser to the PM on Accountability and Interior Shahzad Akbar said the Financial Monitoring Unit had detected 177 suspicious transactions involving the family of opposition leader in the National Assembly.

The adviser maintained that Shehbaz and his sons Hamza and Suleman were involved in money laundering and fake accounts.

“The opposition parties want a Truth Commission but they should first respond to the allegations of corruption and money laundering.”

Akbar said the reference comprised 55 volumes and 25,000 pages of documentary evidence including company records, bank statements and foreign remittances.

“The record was compiled after a detailed investigation by NAB [National Accountability Bureau] teams, which have nominated 16 suspects in the reference -- six of the [Shehbaz] family and 10 of their employees.”

The adviser further said four of the accused had turned approvers and disclosed their role in money laundering for the family.

“The money laundering took place through the employees of the companies owned by Shehbaz and his children.”

Akbar accused Shehbaz and Hamza of receiving kickbacks for awarding contracts of projects and also taking money in return for giving party tickets.

According to the reference, Shehbaz’s family was involved in “fake foreign remittances”.

It added that the former Punjab CM had paid for the custom duty of a land cruiser and purchased two houses in Defence Housing Authority and villas in Whispering Pines from the laundered money.

“About Rs9.5 billion were laundered through fake companies and Ramazan Sugar Mills whose employees’ salaries are just thousands of rupees but transactions of billions took place through their bank accounts,” Akbar explained.

The adviser said Shehbaz should explain the organised money laundering network run by his children from 2008 and 2018.

“He [Shehbaz] should also disclose the source of income of his son Suleman and son-in-law Ali Imran, who is now living in London.”

Responding to a question, Akbar said the government had made the sugar inquiry commission's report public and legal action was being taken against those involved in the creating the crisis.

“The process of accountability will continue without any interruption and those involved in corruption will be held accountable.”

Giving further details, the adviser said the government was actively pursuing the sugar crisis case in courts based on the commission’s report and had recovered Rs3 billion that would be paid to sugarcane farmers.

He said the Federal Investigation Agency (was also pursuing the case against PTI leader Jahangir Tareen and Ali Tareen and notices were served to them.

(With input from APP)