Court grants bail to accused in money laundering case against Shehbaz

LAHORE: A banking court here on Monday granted interim bail to a co-accused in fake bank accounts case PML-N president Shehbaz Sharif and others, ARY News reported.

The banking court granted interim bail to Azhar Mahmood and restrained the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) from his arrest till September 25. The banking court also summoned the record from the FIA.

The accused was charged of influencing prosecution witnesses, including bank officials, into changing their statements in a money laundering case against Shehbaz Sharif and family members.

Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza Shahbaz Sharif are facing charges of laundering ill-gotten funds worth Rs25 billion using the Ramazan Sugar Mills and Al-Arabiya Sugar Mills.

An investigation into the money laundering charges against Shehbaz and members of his family revealed that his assets increased from Rs14.86mn to Rs7328mn in the past 20 years.

Shehbaz made properties worth Rs 619.85 million which include three homes; 96-H Model Town residence, Defence house and Doonga Gali house.

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Sunday arrested MCB vice president Asim Suri on charges of influencing witnesses in a money laundering case against PML-N president Shehbaz Sharif and others.