LAHORE: An accountability court on Monday extended the physical remand of Muhammad Usman, chief financial officer of Sharif Group of Companies, for another 14-day in a money laundering reference against Shahbaz Sharif's family.
The Investigating Officer requested the court to grant further remand of the suspect for 15 days as his custody was required to complete the investigation. The IO said the suspect had not been cooperating with the NAB during the interrogation. The defence counsel however opposed the remand saying the NAB failed to conclude its investigation during the last 28 days and was asking for further custody and asked the court to send the co-suspect on judicial remand. The NAB accused Usman of a key role in money laundering committed by the Shahbaz family.
It said the suspect aided and abetted by managing a network of laundering funds disproportionate to known sources of income of the Shahbaz family.
The NAB alleged in its initial report that Usman revealed during interrogation that sources were arranged in the form of foreign remittances and loans in bank accounts of Hamza, Suleman and other family members of Shahbaz Sharif.
It said the co-suspect further revealed that he only managed the foreign remittances arranged after 2007, whereas, the remittances before that period were arranged by Hamza and Suleman themselves. The report said that the co-suspect told the investigator that he only acted on the orders of Suleman to arrange the foreign remittances.
It alleged that Usman was also involved in layering of unexplained funds of the political family by operating proxy bank accounts of the suspects held in names of their different employees.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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