Banking court extends pre-arrest bails of Shehbaz, Hamza till Oct 30

A Lahore banking court extended on Saturday the pre-arrest bails of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza Shehbaz till October 30 in the money-laundering case, Aaj News reported.

During the hearing when Judge Tahir Sabir asked the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) about the investigation, the representative of the agency Moazzam Habib, replied that Shehbaz had submitted his reply to their questionnaire.

The investigation will be taken forward after the FIA reviews Shehbaz's reply, Habib informed the court.

Meanwhile, Amjad Pervez, the counsel of the Sharif family, told the court that his clients were cooperating with the FIA.

Court indicts Shehbaz Sharif's wife Nusrat in money-laundering case

During the hearing, Habib raised objections to the jurisdiction of the court, saying that a banking court was not entitled to hear the case. The court replied that he should make his argument in the next hearing.

The PML-N president and his family members are facing the charge of money-laundering of Rs25 billion through the bank accounts of clerical staff of their two sugar mills - Al-Arabia and Ramzan Sugar Mills.

In his reply to the FIA, Shehbaz dodged the FIA and did not respond to any of the 35 questions asked by the Combined Investigation Team (CIT) through a questionnaire, an official source familiar with the information told Business Recorder.

Shehbaz hasn't responded to any CIT question

"This time too Shehbaz dodged the FIA and did not respond to any of the 35 questions asked by the Combined Investigation Team (CIT) through a questionnaire," the source said, adding that the younger Sharif also accused the investigators, especially FIA Punjab Zone-I Director Muhammad Rizwan, of victimizing him at the behest of Prime Minister Imran Khan, who allegedly wants to keep him trapped in "politically motivated" cases just to silence his dissenting voice as being the opposition leader in the National Assembly.

The source claimed that Shehbaz expressed that asking questions from him and trapping him in "false" cases was an attempt to silencing his voice as being the opposition leader.