Accountability court issues notice to Shehbaz, others in money laundering case

LAHORE: An accountability court on Friday issued notices to PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif and members of the Sharif family to appear before it for a hearing regarding a money-laundering and assets beyond means reference on August 27.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) last week had filed a reference against 16 accused, including Shehbaz and his son Hamza Shehbaz, in a money laundering case. The case, which pertains to corruption to the tune of Rs7 billion, was filed in the court of an admin judge on August 17.

The reference, consisting of 55 volumes, also includes the names of Suleman Shehbaz, Rabia, Nusrat Shahbaz, and Nisar Ahmad. Daughters Rabia Imran and Javeria Ali have also been named in the reference while Suleman is a proclaimed offender in this case.

The other nominated include Nisar Ahmad, Syed Muhammad Tahir Naqvi, Ali Muhammad Khan, Qasim Qayyum, Rashid Karamat, Masroor Anwer, Muhammad Usman, Fazal Dad Abbasi, Muhammad Shoaib Qamar and Haroon Yousafzai.

The Bureau had accepted requests from four people to become approvers against the Shehbaz family in the reference. These include Muhammad Mushtaq alias Mushtaq Cheeni, his son Yasir Mushtaq, Shahid Rafique and Aftab Ahmad.

Earlier in June, a combined investigation team (CIT) from NAB had grilled Shehbaz for an hour-and-a-half in an investigation related to alleged money-laundering and assets beyond means against him and his family members.

The PML-N president was questioned by two members of the CIT for more than an hour. He submitted a reply to the questioner which was handed over to him in a previous hearing.

As per a report in The News, Shehbaz was asked about gifts given by him to his wife. Questions were also asked bout Barclays Bank loans. Sources said Shahbaz was confronted with a report from the Financial Monitoring Unit.

Previously, Shehbaz had avoided appearing before NAB a few times due to COVID-19, saying he had weak immunity.