Shehbaz Sharif served another legal notice in fake accounts case

ISLAMABAD: The Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif has been served another legal notice by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in fake bank accounts case, ARY News reported on Tuesday.

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has issued another legal notice to the opposition leader and the president of Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N), Shehbaz Sharif, in fake bank accounts case.

The legal notice was sent to the Model Town residence of Shehbaz Sharif via fax. In its notice, the FIA sought Sharif’s response to the questionnaire sent to him earlier. However, Shehbaz Sharif made excuses to respond to the FIA’s questionnaire.

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It emerged that the agency will apprise the concerned court if Sharif fails to submit the reply to the questionnaire. In the new notice, Shehbaz Sharif has been given the October 8 deadline to submit his reply.

The issuance of the legal notice to the opposition leader by the FIA was revealed in the ARY News programme Power Play today.

According to the FIA notice, the agency was probing into the Rs25 billion money laundering allegations in which the transactions worth Rs25 billion were made through fake bank accounts in the names of peons and clerks of Ramzan Sugar Mills.

The fake bank accounts had been used for making 55,894 transactions.

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The notice stated that Shehbaz Sharif had been given many chances to submit his response to the five questions that had been handed over at Kot Lakhpat Jail on December 18, 2020.

However, Shehbaz Sharif, at that time, termed it a fake case against him and promised to submit his response after holding legal consultation.

On January 8, 2021, Shehbaz Sharif had been handed over the same questionnaire. To this, Shehbaz Sharif had repeated the allegations and sought more time as he did not consult his legal team as yet. He vowed that his legal adviser Ata Tarar will submit the reply after consultation.

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It further stated that an incomplete answer had been submitted as the reply to the FIA’s notice on February 2 instead of filing a detailed response. In June 2021, Shehabz Sharif had been handed over 20 more questions to clarify his position. To this, the PML-N president had said that he has no connection with the family businesses and did not submit the reply.

According to the notice, the FIA stated that Shehbaz Sharif did not cooperate with the investigators despite he was ordered to show cooperation by the banking court. The notice stated that the agency possessed evidence about the use of Sharif’s family business for money laundering.