LAHORE
Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) prosecutor has said that the investigation agency wanted to arrest Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Chief Minister Punjab Hamza Shahbaz to for the investigation of Rs16 billion money laundering case.
PM Shehbaz and CM Hamza appeared before the special court in Lahore under strict security. All the roads leading to the accountability court were blocked.
Punjab Police, Anti-Riot Force, and security personnel in plain clothes were deployed outside the court.
Hamza’s counsel, Amjad Pervez, in his arguments for the confirmation of bail in the case filed against him and his family by the FIA, said the investigation has been going on for one and half years, yet the agency could not bring any evidence on record.
“The worst political engineering was done against the political opponents which were also ’declared a reality by the Lahore High Court,” he added.
Amjad maintained that the “previous government used state machinery” to suppress opposition leaders.
The counsel highlighted that the FIA had interrogated the two leaders when both of them were in jail.
During the hearing, the judge asked whether the FIA wanted the arrest Shehbaz and Hamza, to which the FIA lawyer responded that “the arrest of both the accused is required” as they were not included in the investigation.
PM Shehbaz urged the court to let him present his “own arguments” in the Ramzan Sugar Mill case. “We’ve given you a chance earlier too,” the judge responded.
“I would like to request the court for another opportunity. I want to say something,” the PM said.
As Amjad Pervaiz started presenting his arguments for the confirmation of bail in the money laundering case against Shehbaz and his family by FIA, the father-son duo left the court.
The court, on the other hand, has ordered CCPO Lahore to submit a detailed investigation report of the case and summoned the witnesses for cross-examination on the next hearing.
PM Shehbaz’s lawyer requested the court to exempt the prime minister from appearing in the court in person.
The court has also called for the records of Ashiana Housing Society and Ramzan Sugar Mills cases on the next hearing on June 20.
The interim bail of PM Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza has been extended and the hearing was adjourned till June 11. However, the presiding judge issued non-bailable arrest warrants for Suleman Shahbaz, and two others in the case, as they were not present.
In December last year, the FIA had submitted a challan against the two PML-N leaders before the court for their alleged involvement in laundering an amount of Rs16 billion in the sugar scam case.
The investigation team has “detected 28 Benami [untitled] accounts of the Shehbaz family through which money laundering of Rs16.3bn was committed during 2008 to 2018”. It examined the money trail of 17,000 credit transactions.
Shehbaz and Hamza were booked in the case along with Suleman Shehbaz, who was absconding in the United Kingdom. 14 other people were also named in the FIR.
The report revealed that the amount was kept under “hidden accounts” which were given to Shehbaz in a personal capacity. “The amount has nothing to do with the sugar business [of the family]. It was received from the accounts of low-wage employees by Shehbaz and was transferred outside Pakistan.”
