PM, son acquitted in money laundering case

An accountability court has acquitted Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, his son Hamza Shehbaz and other co-accused in a money laundering reference that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had filed in August 2020 during the rule of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.

Lahore Accountability Court Judge Raja Qamaruz Zaman on Thursday unveiled the verdict which had been reserved earlier. The judge, however, issued perpetual arrest warrants for the PM's daughter, Rabia Imran, due to her failure to appear before the court despite numerous notices.

Shehbaz Sharif, his wife Nusrat Shehbaz and children--Hamza, Suleman and Rabia--were among the 16 individuals accused in the corruption reference.

The reference alleged that Shehbaz was the prime beneficiary of assets held in the name of his family members and "benamidars" who had no sources to acquire such assets.

According to NAB, the family members and benamidars of Shehbaz's family received foreign remittances worth billions of rupees in their personal bank accounts.

In addition to these remittances, the bureau said, billions of rupees were laundered by way of foreign pay orders which were deposited in personal bank accounts of Hamza and Suleman.

However, on May 10, NAB filed a supplementary reference in the court, stating that it had conducted a fresh investigation and found that the charges against the prime minister, his son and others were not true.

Read Court seeks reply on Suleman’s acquittal plea

On July 6, Shehbaz and Hamza also moved motions in the accountability court for their acquittal. In their applications filed through Amjad Pervaiz, they contended that NAB filed a false and fabricated case and that the accountability watchdog had no evidence to prove the case.

They stated that they had declared all their assets—which were acquired through legal means—to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). They requested the accountability court to acquit them from the case.

In a Twitter post, Shehbaz later noted that he and his family members were implicated in a false and baseless case, which was part of a politically motivated vendetta.

“This was the same case in which I was wrongfully arrested twice; Hamza Shahbaz was kept in prison and not even taken to a doctor despite being seriously ill during the Covid-19 pandemic. He was not even allowed to meet his innocent daughter.”

He said: "Those who burned in the fire of political revenge got an answer in the world. But they will have to give an account of this cruelty in the last and biggest court also.”

On July 10, a special court in Lahore 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, adviser 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.