Money laundering, assets beyond means case: PM, Hamza and 10 others acquitted

LAHORE: An accountability court on Thursday acquitted Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, his son Hamza Shehbaz and 10 others in the Rs 7.00 billion money laundering and assets beyond means case.

Shehbaz Sharif along with all the co-accused including his son Hamza Shahbaz, wife Nusrat Shehbaz, daughter Javeria Ali, Muhammad Usman, Masroor Anwar, Shoaib Qamar, Qasim Qayyum, Rashid Karamat, Ali Ahmed and Nisar Ahmed were declared innocent.

The court also ordered unfreezing of Shehbaz Sharif family’s assets.

The court, however, issued a perpetual arrest warrant for Shehbaz Sharif's daughter Rabia Imran, who had earlier been declared absconder in the case.

Earlier, the Investigation Officer (IO) in the supplementary investigation report of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) told the court that no evidence of corruption and money laundering was found against Shehbaz Sharif and others.”

“The accusations of unnamed properties and assets beyond means have not been proved in the investigation,” the IO added.

While pronouncing its verdict reserved earlier this month, the court said that it had no other choice except to acquit the accused, as NAB did not have anything against them.

The NAB had filed the reference against Shehbaz Sharif in August 2020, when he had been serving as the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly. Shehbaz Sharif was arrested by the NAB after the Lahore High Court rejected his bail in the case.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023