PM’s son gets clean chit in graft case

A special court in Lahore on Monday acquitted Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s son Suleman Shehbaz and others in a Rs16 billion money laundering case.

Special Central Court Judge Bakht Fakhar Bahzad also directed secretary establishment to take legal action against Shahzad Akbar, advisor to former premier Imran Khan as well as the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) former director general and some other FIA officials for lodging a frivolous and baseless case.

Action against aforementioned officials is necessary so that in future the other officers learn a lesson and refrain from obeying illegal orders of their superiors, an 18-page order issued by the judge further stated.

"Before parting with this order, I must register here that learned defense counsel repeatedly made specific allegations against Shahzad Akbar that under his pressure, instant prosecution was launched and this fact has also been confirmed by the answers # 26 & 27 of the JIT [joint investigation team].

“By confessing this fact to the court with regard to the involvement of Shahzad Akbar under [whose] instructions the FIA jotted down the prosecution story, and the JIT members and the then DG FIA who has intentionally not appeared before this court and has also deliberately avoided to answer all the questionnaires, the JIT members and the DG FIA has failed to evoke the sympathies of this court.”

Read Suleman appears before FIA in money laundering case

The court noted that the FIA became a tool in the finished act of falsely involving the accused persons. It said now the time has come to take stern action against those who remained actors and factors in this whole episode.

"By way of their conduct they [FIA officials] have been found [to be] a wolf in sheep's [clothing]. They have tarnished the image of the FIA and lowered its honor into public perception," the order added.

It said the court had asked the FIA 27 queries about the case but the FIA could not satisfy the court.

The special central court on October 12, 2022 acquitted Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza Shehbaz in the same case.

Talking to the media later, Suleman said he along with his family members was victimized through false cases. “This case was lodged in 2018. Meanwhile the Daily Mail also levelled allegations against us. The Daily Mail tendered an apology over the fake news and today I am acquitted in this fake case too.”

He said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government did nothing except lodging fake cases against the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leadership.  At earlier proceedings, the FIA had given a clean chit to Suleman, stating that "no evidence was found of his involvement in the money laundering case."