Court adjourns Shehbaz family assets case till May 18

LAHORE: An accountability court Tuesday adjourned hearing of assets beyond means and money laundering case against the Shehbaz Sharif family till May 18.

Duty Judge Sheikh Sajjad Ahmad conducted the case proceedings, wherein Leader of the Opposition in Punjab Assembly Hamza Shehbaz appeared and got his attendance marked.

However, Leader of the Opposition in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif did not appear. A counsel for him submitted an application for exemption from personal appearance in the wake of rising coronavirus cases. The court granted one-time exemption while allowing the application. The court directed Shehbaz Sharif to ensure his presence on the next date of hearing, May 18.

The court also ordered the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) witnesses to ensure their presence on the next date of hearing.

The Lahore High Court (LHC) had granted bail to Shehbaz Sharif and Hamza Shehbaz in the case. NAB had nominated 16 persons as accused in the case. However, only 10, out of 16, 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 Yousafzai and another could not be indicted due to their absence from court proceedings.

In a reference, comprising 55 volumes, the Bureau alleged that the Shehbaz Sharif family committed massive money laundering of Rs 7 billion.

Yasir Mushtaq, Mushtaq Ahmad, Shahid Rafique and Aftab have been declared approvers in the reference.