LAHORE: A banking court in Lahore on Saturday extended the pre-arrest bail of Opposition Leader in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza Shehbaz in the money laundering case till October 13.
During today’s proceedings, both Shehbaz and Hamza appeared before the court and the judge inquired about the progress of the investigation from the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) prosecutor.
Moazzam Habib represented the FIA and informed the court that Shehbaz had submitted his reply to a questionnaire sent to him by the agency. He told the court that the respondent’s reply was yet to be examined.
The defendant’s counsel Amjad Pervez said his clients were cooperating with the FIA in every possible way. He said the case probe should have been wrapped within 14 days under the law, “But the FIA has spent 11 months investigating the case,” he said.
The FIA representative replied that it was a major case, adding that the agency was “checking the transactions”. He also objected to the jurisdiction of the banking court in the case, expressing that a banking court was not entitled to hear the case.
Shehbaz requested the judge to hold the next hearing after a considerable gap, saying he had to attend an upcoming session of the National Assembly. The court deferred the hearing till Oct 30.
Shehbaz and Hamza are facing Rs25 billion money laundering charges in the sugar scandal. The FIA had booked them in the case under sections of the Pakistan Penal Code, the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Anti-Money Laundering Act.
Shehbaz is accused of aiding and abetting his sons Hamza and Salman in amassing wealth (pecuniary resources) disproportionate to their known sources of income. The court had last granted them two weeks bail on Sep 25.
In an earlier hearing, the opposition leader had said he had never been a shareholder or a director of the sugar mill. Shehbaz had added that he had told all these details to the officials while he was being interrogated in jail as well about the assets made by his father that he had later transferred to his children.
