LAHORE: A special court in Lahore on Saturday directed the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to file a charge-sheet against the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza Shehbaz in a money laundering case against members of the Sharif family.
Judge Mohammad Aslam Gondal heard the case as the two turned up in court.
At the outset of the hearing, the court inquired about the submission of the case challan, to which an FIA prosecutor replied the charge sheet has been finalised and approved by the agency’s board.
The charge sheet consists of seven volumes with four people nominated as key suspects while others as their facilitators, the prosecutor said.
At the previous hearing, the court had given the FIA a last chance to file the case challan. Upon failure to submit the charge-sheet, the entire probe team would be served a show-cause notice, the judge warned.
The duo is facing Rs25 billion money laundering charges in the sugar scandal. According to the prosecution of the FIA, Sharif is accused of aiding and abetting his sons Shehbaz and Suleman Shahbaz in accumulating more assets than their declared sources of income.
In 2019, an accountability court in Lahore on Monday declared Suleman a proclaimed offender in the case and issued fresh non-bailable arrest warrants against him.
During the proceedings, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has informed the court it had seized Suleman’s shares amounting to Rs2 billion in 16 companies.
According to a NAB report, it also seized cash worth Rs4.1 million held in three banks accounts as well as $4,000 dollars in two different bank accounts of the suspect.
In addition, it also seized 10 marlas agricultural land and pieces of land spread over 209 kanal owned by the London-based politician.
NAB alleged that assets worth Rs3.3 billion had been identified so far as illegally accumulated by two brothers and their father. It said the whole family committed massive money laundering in the name of foreign remittances and loans.
