LAHORE: A special court in Lahore on Saturday approved an extension in protective bail of Suleman Shahbaz, the son of the prime minister, in a case of money laundering registered against members of the Sharif family.
After four years in London in self-imposed exile, Shahbaz, one of the two sons of Shahbaz Sharif, returned home in December “to face investigation” in the money laundering case which began in 2018, his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party said.
The Rs16 billion money laundering scandal involving members of his family, including the prime minister, is being probed by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) while the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has nominated him in a separate wealth reference.
He has been declared a proclaimed offender in both investigations.
Shehbaz appeared before the court on Saturday after his bail expired. His lawyer informed the judge that he had joined the investigation in the case. At this, the judge extended the bail period until January 21 while directing the investigation officer to submit a report in the next hearing.
Late last month, the high court barred the two agencies from arresting him in the wealth reference while hearing his petition for protective bail to enable him to surrender before a trial court.
The money laundering reference mainly accused Sharif of being a beneficiary of assets held in the name of his family members and benamidars, who had no sources to acquire such assets.
It said the members and benamidars of his 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 Sharif’s two sons.
The reference further said the Sharif family failed to justify the sources of funds used for the acquisition of assets.
It claimed 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.
The agency has also asked a trial court to try the suspects and punish them under the law.
Sharif and his other son, Hamza Shahbaz, were acquitted of the charges by a court in October but Shahbaz could not be tried after he fled to London in 2018.
