Court extends pre-arrest bail of Shehbaz, Hamza in money laundering case till Oct 30

FIA prosecutor questions the jurisdiction of banking court

LAHORE:

A banking court in Lahore on Saturday extended the pre-arrest bails of Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza Shehbaz in the money laundering case till October 30.

Last year in November, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had booked the PML-N leaders under the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Anti-Money Laundering Act. They are facing charges of laundering around Rs25 billion. 

On September 25, the banking court extended their pre-arrest bails till October 8 as Shehbaz informed the court that the investigating agency was 'lying' as he was in no way linked to Ramzan Sugar Mills -- in the alleged money laundering case.

During today’s proceedings, both Shehbaz and Hamza appeared before the court and the judge inquired about the progress of the investigation from the FIA prosecutor.

To this, the FIA counsel replied that a questionnaire had been sent to Shehbaz. He also objected to the jurisdiction of the banking court in the case praying that it could not be heard (in the banking court) due to anti-corruption provisions.

Shehbaz claimed in court that the documents were the same "in which the decision has come from London".

Read More: 'Major breakthrough' in fake accounts case against Shehbaz

The judge stated that the question of jurisdiction had been raised by the public prosecutor for the first time and the objection would be heard on October 30.

In an earlier hearing, the opposition leader had said he had never been a shareholder or a director of the sugar mill.

He had added that he had told all these details to the officials while he was being interrogated in jail as well about the assets made by his father that he had later transferred to his children.

Shehbaz said he had already submitted answers to a questionnaire given to him by the FIA that was a “virtual photocopy” of the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) case against him.