Salman Shehbaz's property seized, NAB informs court

LAHORE: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) informed an accountability court on Monday that the property of Opposition Leader Shehbaz Sharif’s son Salman Shehbaz has been seized over his no-show despite repeated summons in a money laundering case.

Accountability Judge Ameer Muhammad was seized with the hearing of the case.

A NAB prosecutor informed the court that the bureau had seized the property owned by the accused.

At this, the judge directed relevant government departments to submit a report on confiscation of Salman Shehbaz’s property. He instructed the Security and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), the revenue department and others to submit a compliance report in this regard.

The prosecutor informed that the accused was served subpoenas to turn up for investigation but he didn’t and instead fled the country.

At a previous hearing, the accountability court had declared Salman Shehbaz a proclaimed offender over failure to appear before it despite repeated summons.

The court directed the authorities concerned to freeze assets of the absconding accused.

The NAB prosecutor, Hafiz Asadullah Awan contended before the court that Salman had repeatedly been issued notices to join the bureau’s investigation into a money laundering case but he paid no heed. He informed that the accused had fled abroad.

The prosecutor pleaded with the judge to declare the accused a proclaimed offender and confiscate the property he owns in the country.

The court granted the bureau’s request, declaring Salman a fugitive in the case.

He directed the investigation officer to start the process of confiscating the movable and immovable assets owned by the accused and submit a compliance report in this regard on the next hearing.