Islamabad: A special court in Lahore confirmed the pre-arrest bail of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza Shehbaz, who is also Punjab Chief Minister, in the Rs16 billion money-laundering case against them. The court’s written order said that “no evidence of corruption, misuse of authority, and bribery” had been found in the case presented by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).
“Prima facie, allegations of gratification, corrupt practice, abuse of authority, kickbacks and [receiving] commission require further probe during the trial as at this stage cogent evidence is not available,” judge Ijaz Hassan Awan observed in his detailed order on confirmation of pre-arrest bails of Shehbaz, Hamza and other suspects in the case. On June 11, the judge had confirmed their pre-arrest bails subject to bail bonds of Rs1 million each.
The judge observed: “There has been a complete silence on part of the FIA for a period of about five months.” The court also said that FIA initially claimed alleged corruption of Rs25 billion but later the amount was reduced to Rs16 billion after deleting some bank accounts.
It was also highlighted in the court that none of the witnesses directly made any statement against Shehbaz and Hamza about the deposit and withdrawal of the amounts in question. The judge added that the statements made before the FIA investigators are not admissible evidence and cannot be used against the suspects.
The judge also observed that the prosecution could not collect any document showing any connection of PM Shehbaz with the management of Ramzan Sugar Mills as he is neither a shareholder nor a director of the mills. His son Hamza is the chief executive officer of the sugar mills but prima facie the prosecution failed to produce any evidence showing that the disputed bank accounts were opened and operated on his instruction.
Charges against Shehbaz and Hamza
In November 2020, the FIA had booked PM Shehbaz and his sons, Hamza and Suleman, in financial fraud, impersonation, forgery, and criminal misconduct under several sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act and Anti Money Laundering Act. The FIA investigation team claimed that they had detected 28 Benami accounts of the Shehbaz family which were used to launder money worth Rs16.3 billion between 2008 and 2018.
The FIA examined the money trail of 17,000 credit transactions, according to the FIA report submitted in the court. The money was held in “hidden accounts,” the report added. The federal investigation agency alleged that the money received from the accounts of low-wage employees working at Ramzan Sugar Mills and Al-Arabia Sugar Mills (owned by the Sharif family) was transferred outside Pakistan via hundi/hawala networks to eventually benefit the family. “Eleven low-paid employees of the Sharif group who ‘held and possessed’ the laundered proceeds on behalf of the principal accused, are found guilty of facilitating money laundering,” the FIA had said.
