Hamza denies knowledge of deposits in his accounts

Punjab opposition leaders appears before FIA in Rs25b money laundering case

LAHORE:

Opposition Leader in Punjab Assembly Hamza Shahbaz appeared before a team of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Thursday to respond to allegations against him in Rs25 billion money laundering case.

According to sources Hamza stayed at the FIA office for 50 minutes and answered questions from the investigation team. In his replies, he showed his ignorance as to who deposited billions of rupees in his accounts, they added.

The sources said that Hamza Shahbaz told the investigation team that he had been the chief executive of the Ramzan Sugar Mills but it was not his responsibility to know who deposited Rs25 billion in the accounts of peons and clerks.

Hamza told the investigators that he was a member of the National Assembly from 2008 to 2018 and due to his involvement in politics, he did not know who kept depositing money in his personal bank accounts.

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He also said that he did not know why the employees of Suleman Shahbaz and Ramzan Sugar Mills fled abroad. He added that the director of Ramzan Sugar Mills – Salman Shahbaz and Hamza Shahbaz – and his other family members had no hidden assets abroad.

According to the sources, Hamza also denied his meeting with contractors, engineers or consultants related to public projects in Lahore. About the allegations against him, the sources added, Hamza told the investigators that his legal team would respond to them in the court.

Hamza told the investigation team that he was unaware of the Anti-Corruption Act, 1947, anti-money laundering law of 2010 or anything about the legislation related to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

Earlier, before coming to the FIA office, workers of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) stopped his car on the Mall Road and chanted slogans in his favour. This created a massive traffic jam on the Mall Road. Because of the gridlock, Hamza walked to the FIA office.