LAHORE: A special court in Lahore extended on Saturday the interim bail of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his son Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz till June 11 in the Rs16 billion money laundering case filed against them by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).
However, the presiding judge of the Special Court (Central-I), Ijaz Hassan Awan, issued non-bailable arrest warrants for Suleman Shahbaz, and two others in the case, as they were not present. The hearing was subsequently adjourned till June 11.
At the outset of the hearing today, the FIA told the court that the agency wanted to arrest PM Shehbaz and CM Hamza. The FIA’s lawyer argued that the duo was “not part of the investigation”; however, Hamza’s counsel rejected the claims, accusing the agency of misleading the court as the “two had been a part of the investigations”.
In his arguments, the counsel for Shehbaz Sharif and Hamza Shehbaz, Mohammad Amjad Pervaiz said that the investigation has been going on for the last one-and-a-half year and the FIA has been unable to produce any evidence against his clients.
As Amjad Pervaiz started presenting his arguments for the confirmation of bail in the money laundering case, both the PML-N leaders left the court.
The counsel highlighted that the FIA interrogated the father-son duo when both of them were in jail.
The judge ordered all other stakeholders to present their arguments at the next hearing; directing FIA to present a report on the non-bailable warrants against Suleman Shahbaz, Tahir Naqvi, and Malik Maqsood.
