‘Not guilty,’ FIA gives clean chit to PM’s son Suleman Shehbaz in Rs16m money laundering case

Lahore:  The Federal Investigation Agency on Saturday gave clean chit to Suleman Shehbaz, son of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in Rs16 million money laundering case.

As the proceedings commenced, the FIA submitted a challan before the court, pleading that the agency could not find any evidence against Suleman in the case that it had been investigating for months.

Suleman Shehbaz was present there in the court along with his lawyer. The counsel representing the accused and co-accused Tahir Naqvi asked the court that he wanted to withdraw the pre-arrest pleas.

The PM’s son who spent four years of self-exile in London returned to Pakistan last year in December. The court had declared him as proclaimed offender in the case.

It may be mentioned here that Islamabad High Court had barred the NAB and FIA from arresting him prior to his return.

Now, the special court central put off further hearing till February 4, 2023.

Last year, the same court set PM Shehbaz and his elder son, Hamza Shehbaz, in this case. The FIA had booked Shehbaz and his two sons including Hamza and Suleman  in November 2020 under sections 419, 420, 468, 471, 34 and 109 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, read with section 3/4 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act.

The FIA had booked Shehbaz and his sons Hamza and Suleman in November 2020 under sections 419, 420, 468, 471, 34 and 109 of Prevention of Corruption Act and r/w 3/4 of Anti Money Laundering Act.

The agency submitted a report before the court and claimed to have detected 28 benami accounts of the Shehbaz family through which money laundering of Rs16.3bn was committed from 2008-18. The FIA examined a money trail of 17,000 credit transactions.”

The agency in its report also claimed that the amount was kept in “hidden accounts” and “given to Shehbaz in a personal capacity”.

Besides this case, NAB had also confiscated Suleman’s shares amounting to Rs2billion in 16 companies along with cash worth Rs4.1 million held in three bank accounts as well as 10 marlas agricultural land and pieces of land spreading over 209 kanals. The anti-corruption watchdog also alleged that the assets worth Rs3.3b had been identified back then as illegally accumulated by Suleman, his brother Hamza Shehbaz and their father Shehbaz Sharif.