FIA tells special court it wants to arrest PM Shehbaz, CM Hamza

The Federal Investigating Agency (FIA) told a special court in Lahore on Saturday that it wanted to arrest Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his son Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz in a money-laundering case, Aaj News reported.

During the hearing presided over by judge of the Special Court (Central-I) Ijaz Hassan Awan, the FIA was asking was asked if it wanted to arrest Shehbaz and Hamza. The agency replied in the affirmative, saying that the arrest of the accused is required as they were not included in the investigation.

The Sharifs’ lawyer argued that the suspects had been included in the investigation, and that the FIA is making a “false statement”.

Did not take anything from government in 12.5 years, PM Shehbaz tells court

Previously, the court had delayed the indictment of Shehbaz and Hamza in a Rs16 billion money laundering case and extended their bail till June 04.

During the hearing, PM Shehbaz said he came in the honour of the court and added that when he served the province of Punjab, he did not receive a single penny as salary and he always went abroad on his own expenses. He said all allegations of corruption against him are baseless and concocted.

“My children owned the sugar mills, a summary came to me to increase the exports and I added 2 rupees duty on it. This decision cost me and my family a loss of 2 billion.”

Money laundering case: Indictment of PM Shehbaz, son delayed till June 4

He requested the court to allow him to go as he had to perform official duties.

Accordingly, the court allowed Shehbaz and his son Hamza to go after their attendance was marked. The court asked the counsel of Shehbaz to submit his arguments on the bail of Hamza.

Background

Last year, the FIA had submitted a challan in a banking court against Shehbaz and his two sons, Hamza and Salman, citing them as the main suspects in a money laundering case.

The investigation team had found 28 Benami accounts that were operated under Shehbaz and his household staff members’ names from 2008 to 2018 — while the opposition leader was chief minister and Hamza was a member of the National Assembly.

On January 27, the special court granted pre-arrest bail to Shehbaz and Hamza in the case.