NAB declares PM Shehbaz, family innocent in money laundering reference

LAHORE: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Wednesday declared Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his family members in a money laundering reference, ARY News reported.

The NAB has submitted supplementary report of the money laundering reference against the PM and his family in the accountability court.

Accountability Judge Qamar-uz-Zaman adjourned further hearing of the case until May 24.

An accountability court had acquitted Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza Shehbaz in money laundering case in October last year.

The judge of the special court Central-I Ijaz Hassan Awan announced the verdict related to the acquittal of Shehbaz Sharif and Hamza Shehbaz in the case.

In November 2020, the FIA had lodged FIR against Shehbaz Sharif and Hamza Shehbaz for alleged Rs25 billion money laundering.

In March 2022, the charge sheet of the money laundering case was submitted in which the amount of laundered money was reduced from Rs25 billion to Rs16 billion, whereas the names of 100 witnesses were presented to the concerned court.

The agency also stated that the suspicious transactions worth Rs4 billion were related to secret sugar trading in which Suleman Shehbaz was nominated as the prime suspect and declared proclaimed offender.

It is pertinent to mention here that the three accused in the money laundering case Suleman Shehbaz, Tahir Naqvi and Malik Maqsood alias Maqsood Chaprasi were declared absconders.

Among the accused, Gulzar Ahmed of Hasilpur died in October 2020 and Malik Maqsood died in June 2022, whereas, former FIA Lahore director and the head of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) Dr Rizwan also passed away.