LAHORE: A special court in Lahore on Friday declared Suleman Shehbaz, son of the prime minister, and Tahir Naqvi, a second accused, permanent proclaimed offenders as it adjourned the hearing in an Rs16 billion money laundering case until July 30.
The declaration of the prime minister’s son as proclaimed offender means that police believe he was involved in the crime and want to question him. Police say both the suspects failed to appear despite being summoned.
District and Sessions Judge Ijaz Hassan Awan heard the case and sought details of the properties owned by the fugitives in the next hearing. He also censured Nadeem Akhtar, an official of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), for being late, directing the agency’s Lahore director to hold an inquiry against him and present a report in the next hearing.
The court also sought the death certificate of Malik Maqsood Ahmad alias Maqsood chaprasi, an employee at a business owned by Shehbaz and a central figure in the scam who died under mysterious circumstances in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) last month.
Shehbaz’s brother and Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz was allowed by the court to leave after marking his attendance. The court also accepted Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s request for a one-time exemption from the hearing.
The chief minister had appeared before the court for the hearing of the case being investigated by the agency.
THE REFERENCE
The reference mainly accused Sharif of being a beneficiary of assets held in the name of his family members and benamidars (frontmen), who had no sources to acquire such assets.
It said the family members and frontmen of the Shehbaz family received fake foreign remittances of billions 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 the personal bank accounts of Hamza and his brother Suleman Shehbaz.
The reference further said that the family of Shehbaz failed to justify the sources of funds used for the acquisition of assets.
It said the suspects committed offences of corruption and corrupt practices as envisaged under the provisions of the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999, and money laundering as delineated in the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2010. It asked the trial court to try the suspects and punish them under the law.
