A Pakistani court on Sunday extended interim bail for Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza Shehbaz in connection with a 16 billion money-laundering case until May 26.
According to Geo tv, the court also issued a warrant for three others, Suleman Shahbaz, Tahir Naqvi, and Malik Maqsood, stating that the three had been declared absconders by the magistrate court.
The hearing has been postponed until May 28 by Special Court Judge Ijaz Hassan Awan.
During the hearing, the judge observed that the police do not follow court orders, so he called up the deputy superintendent of police (DSP) and station house officer (SHO), both of whom denied appearing in court.
In his defense, PM Shehbaz stated, “I am appearing well before court in order to maintain its dignity and to follow the laws of the country.” He also requested that his security not prevent anyone from entering the court.
Mohammad Amjad Pervaiz, PM Shehbaz’s counsel, argued in court that the prosecution team had removed many of the challans filed against Shehbaz between 2008 and 2018. Thus, he claimed, the record presented by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) is inadequate to prove the charges against Shehbaz.
He stated that no evidence was found against his client proving his connections with sugar mills, and that Shehbaz has no share in the bank accounts, nor has a single penny from these 14 accounts been transferred to his account in the last ten years, according to Geo tv.
On Saturday, the father-son duo arrived at the special court for a hearing, accompanied by Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, amid tight security surrounding the court.
Previously, the FIA’s special court ordered that PM Shehbaz and CM Punjab Hamza be indicted on May 14. It was, however, postponed due to the premier’s foreign tour.
The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) filed a challan against Shehbaz and Hamza in December 2021 before the special court for their alleged involvement in laundering $16 billion in the sugar scam case.
The investigation team, according to the FIA report submitted to the court, has “uncovered 28 benami accounts of the Shehbaz family used for money laundering totaling 16.3 billion between 2008 and 2018. The FIA investigated the cash trail of 17,000 credit transactions “Geo television reported.
According to the report, the money was kept in “secret accounts” and given to Shehbaz in his personal capacity.
