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Suleman Shehbaz, son of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, was granted on Friday interim pre-arrest bail in two separate cases of money laundering and accumulating assets beyond known sources of income till January 7.
After living in self-exile in London for four years, Suleman returned to Pakistan earlier this month. He is currently a suspect in a money laundering investigation being conducted by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), and the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has nominated him as a subject of an assets-beyond-means reference. In both instances, he has been labelled as a proclaimed offender.
Prior to his return, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had restrained the NAB and FIA from arresting him.
The IHC order was issued on Suleman’s plea seeking protective bail for him to be able to surrender before a trial court and avoid arrest. He was eventually granted 14-day protective bail on December 13.
He was granted interim bail in the two cases today after he surrendered before an accountability court and a special court in Lahore and filed bail pleas.
His attorney, Amjad Pervaiz, presented a motion for interim bail in the NAB case before an accountability court today following his surrender.
The court then ordered that Suleman be included in the probe and prohibited the NAB from arresting him until January 7.
The court subsequently granted him interim-pre-arrest bail and ordered him to present his national identification card as well as the NAB’s response to his plea at the ensuing hearing.
The bail was approved against surety bonds worth Rs500,000.
Earlier, Suleman also moved a special court in Lahore for pre-arrest bail in the Rs16bn million money laundering case after he surrendered before it.
The plea for his pre-arrest bail in this case was also moved by his counsel, Pervaiz, before the special court (central).
Subsequently, the court barred the FIA from arresting Suleman till January 7 and directed that he be included in the investigation.
The bail was granted against surety bonds worth Rs100,000.
