Pak PM Shehbaz, son summoned by court in money laundering case

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza Shehbaz have been summoned by a special court in Lahore in connection with a laundering case to the tune of 16 billion Pakistani rupees.

The court has summoned the father-son duo to appear on September 7 for the framing of charges and adjourned the hearing till that date, Dawn reported.

Both were absent during the hearing as their lawyers requested a one-time exemption on their behalf.

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Seventy-year-old Shehbaz, and his sons Hamza, 47, and Suleman, 40, were booked in November 2020 by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) under various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act and Anti Money Laundering Act.

The case is being heard by a special court in Lahore, which already granted pre-arrest bails to both father and son.

The court had given them one-time exemption after Shehbaz's lawyer Amjad Pervaiz informed the court that the PM had not been well, while Hamza's lawyer Rao Aurangzeb said that his client had severe back pain and needed rest.

FIA Prosecutor Farooq Bajwa did not object to the exemption, which was granted by the court.

According to the FIA report submitted in the court, the probe team had "detected 28 benami accounts of the Shehbaz family through which money laundering of Rs 16.3bn was committed during 2008-18. The FIA examined the money trail of 17,000 credit transactions."

Benami transactions are those transactions which are made by a person without using his name or by using the name of another.

The amount was kept in hidden accounts and given to Shehbaz in a personal capacity.

"Eleven low-paid employees of the Sharif group who 'held and possessed' the laundered proceeds on behalf of the principal accused, are found guilty of facilitating money laundering. The three other co-accused of the Sharif group also actively facilitated the money laundering," the report said.

(With inputs from agencies)

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