FIA ordered to submit challan in Ramzan Sugar Mills case

Banking court extends bails of Shehbaz and Hamza till December 11

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 Ramzan Sugar Mills money laundering case till December 11.

It also ordered the Federal Investigation Agency to submit their challan in the next hearing.

During the proceedings, Judge Tahir Sabir asked the FIA officers regarding progress made on the drafting of the challan.

Judge Sabir reminded the FIA officials that in the previous hearing the court had ordered that the challan be submitted on November 20.

The FIA prosecutor replied that the co-suspects in the case had obtained pre-arrest bails due to which the investigation was not yet completed.

The judge asked the prosecutor to submit the interim challan on the basis of the investigation conducted so far.

The court ordered the FIA to submit the challan at the next hearing (Dec 11) otherwise show-cause notices will be issued against the concerned officers.

During the hearing, Shehbaz told the court that he had “nothing to do with Ramzan Sugar Mills” as it was owned by his father.

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“My children’s sugar mills suffered billions of rupees losses because of me,” he said, adding that the National Accountability Bureau was also hearing the same case.

Judge Sabir told Shehbaz that the bench had noted down his points.

The FIA had booked Shehbaz, Hamza and Suleman Shehbaz in November 2020 under sections 419, 420, 468, 471, 34 and 109 – financial fraud, impersonation and forgery – of the Pakistan Penal Code and 5(2) and 5(3) – criminal misconduct – of Prevention of Corruption Act and r/w 3/4 of Anti Money Laundering Act.

According to the FIR, deposits of over Rs25 billion (2008-18) were received in bank accounts of various low-wage employees of Ramzan Sugar Mills and Al-Arabia Sugar Mills and accounts of fake companies set up and controlled by the Sharif Group.