Court adjourns Shehbaz family money-laundering case till Jan 20

LAHORE: An accountability court on Saturday adjourned hearing of the money-laundering case against Shehbaz Sharif family till January 20.

Accountability Court Judge Syed Jawadul Hassan conducted the case proceedings, wherein the jail authorities produced Opposition Leader in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza Shehbaz in the court.

The court recorded statements of two witnesses, Muhammad Sharif, Audit Officer of Land Revenue, and Muhammad Shafique, during the proceedings.

Advocate Amjad Pervaiz, on behalf of Shehbaz Sharif, cross examined witness Muhammad Sharif, but could not conclude it after the court timing came to an end.

Subsequently, the court adjourned further proceedings till January 20 and summoned the witnesses for cross-examination on the next date of hearing.

Shehbaz also tried to talk about solid waste management issues during the proceedings, but the court stopped him, observing that he should not turn the courtroom into a press conference hall.

NAB had nominated 16 persons as the accused in the case. However, only 10 had been indicted yet. Besides Shehbaz Sharif, Hamza Shehbaz, Javeria Ali, Fazl Dad Abbasi, Rashid Karamat, Muhammad Usman, Masroor Anwar, Nisar Ahmad, Shoaib Qamar and Qasim Qayyum had been indicted in the case. However, Suleman Shehbaz, Nusrat Shehbaz, Rabia Imran, Syed Muhammad Tahir Naqvi, Haroon Yousaf Zai and another could not be indicted due to their absence.

In a reference, comprising 55 volumes, the bureau had alleged that Shehbaz Sharif family committed massive money laundering of Rs 7 billion. Yasir Mushtaq, Mushtaq Ahmad, Shahid Rafique and Aftab were accepted as approvers in the reference.