Fawad wants Shehbaz graft cases heard daily

Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry on Wednesday made a call on behalf of his party and entire nation for the daily hearing of corruption and money laundering cases filed against PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

“Shehbaz held a news conference for over an hour today (Wednesday) but he did not utter a single word on the two important cases being heard against him,” Fawad said while talking to media outside the Parliament House soon after the PML-N president’s presser.

“It was being expected that the PML-N leader would respond to the allegations levelled against him but keeping the tradition of Sharif family alive, he resorted to lies for misleading the media and nation on his case in the United Kingdom.”

Fawad regretted the “fake news” run by a section of the media claiming that Shehbaz had been cleared by the UK agency, though the investigations were held against his son Suleman Shehbaz and there was no mention of the PML-N president in the case.

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He clarified that the case was not filed by the Pakistan government rather it was an agency in London which conducted the probe against Suleman on its own. He said Shehbaz facing “strong cases” in Pakistan should defend himself in the court of law.

“He is facing a NAB reference worth Rs7.32 billion for which no hearing has been held for the past six months. The second case is regarding money laundering worth Rs25 billion.”

The minister recalled that during sugar shortage last year, the cabinet had ordered for checking the bank accounts of all sugar mill owners in the country.

“During this investigation, a money laundering network by Ramzan and Al-Arabia Sugar mills owned by Shehbaz family was unearthed.”

Fawad said the FIA had disclosed that from 2008 to 2018 money laundering of more than Rs25 billion was done by both the mills through 57 fictitious bank accounts in the name of ordinary people including the employees of the mills.

Giving details of the NAB case, he said besides Shehbaz, his wife Nusrat and sons Hamza and Suleman were among the accused in Rs7.32 billion fictitious TTs.

Fawad observed that the PML-N president in his press conference had said that his son’s (Suleman) acquittal be considered his acquittal, but for cases in Pakistan the Sharifs had the opposite stance.

Read more Shehbaz, son Suleman’s accounts unblocked by UK court

“Here, Shehbaz claimed that he had nothing to do with his children’s money as they were independent.”

Meanwhile, PML-N Information Secretary Marriyum Aurangzeb asked Prime Minister Imran Khan to first “measure the length” of the network of roadways and motorways laid by party supremo Nawaz Sharif before raising any objection.

Responding to the premier’s statement about the lack of focus on roads, Marriyum said it was ironic that [PM] Imran and his party who used to criticise Nawaz and Shehbaz for laying down a network of roads was now “whining” about not enough roads being built.

“Imran, cannot even measure the tens of thousands of kilometers of roads built by the PML-N leadership.”

"Such flip-flops further prove that Imran Khan's mental health is seriously questionable. Such ‘bigoted and hypocritical’ statements are a result of the embarrassment faced by Imran in national and foreign courts that booted out all fictitious cases levelled against the PML-N leadership,” she said.