LAHORE: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Saturday declared Suleman Shehbaz, son of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, innocent in the Rs16 billion money laundering case.
Suleman, who returned to Pakistan earlier in December after four years of self-exile in London, was an accused in a money laundering case registered with the FIA.
An accountability court granted interim bail to Suleman in the money laundering case on December 23 against bail bonds worth Rs500,000 after he filed a bail plea stating that the court needed to fulfil legal procedures before declaring him an absconder.
The antigraft watchdog submitted a supplementary challan in Lahore court, stating Suleman and co-accused Tahir Naqvi were “not found guilty”.
It should be noted that in October a special court, central acquitted PM Shehbaz and his son Hamza Shahbaz same case.
In November 2020, the investigation agency booked Shehbaz and his sons Hamza and Suleman under sections 419, 420, 468, 471, 34 and 109 of the Prevention of Corruption Act and r/w 3/4 of Anti Money Laundering Act.
Arrest warrants had been issued for Suleman, however, in its report submitted to the court, the anti-graft watchdog had stated that the warrants could not be executed since Suleman was not present at his address and had gone abroad.
In July this year, a trial court had also declared him a proclaimed offender, along with another suspect in an Rs16 billion money laundering case.
According to the FIA report, the investigation team “detected 28 Benami accounts of the Shehbaz family through which money laundering of Rs16.3 billion was committed from 2008-18. The FIA examined a money trail of 17,000 credit transactions.”
The report added that the amount was kept in “hidden accounts” and “given to Shehbaz in a personal capacity”.
This is a developing story and is being updated with more details
Read more: Maryam Nawaz to return to Pakistan on January 29
