'Reports of Shahbaz Sharif, Suleiman Shabaz's acquittal from UK court incorrect'

ISLAMABAD: Adviser to Prime Minister on Accountability Shahzad Akbar Monday refuted reports of ‘acquittal’ of PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif and his son Suleiman Shahbaz in a money laundering case from a London court, ARY NEWS reported.

In a series of messages from his Twitter handle, Shahzad Akbar said the reports about the alleged ‘acquittal’ of Shahbaz Sharif or his son Suleiman Shahbaz are incorrect and misreporting.

“The investigation by the NCA against Suleiman Shahbaz and some of his family members was not initiated at the request of [Asset Recovery Unit] ARU or NAB,” he said saying that it was a result of a suspicious transaction reported by a bank to NCA.

He shared that certain funds transferred by Suleiman Shahbaz from Pakistan to UK in 2019 were declared as a suspicious transaction by the UK authorities and the NCA secured an asset freezing order(AFO) from the court against these funds

However, he said that recently NCA decided to stop investigating these funds and therefore agreed to release these funds through court.

Shahzad Akber further clarified that such a release order is not an acknowledgment that funds are from a legitimate source.

“There is no acquittal of any sort as reported as there was no trial! funds were frozen by NCA and NCA has decided to not investigate these funds anymore,” he said adding that Suleiman [Shahbaz] remains a fugitive in a money laundering case against him and his father before the accountability court in Lahore.