Lahore: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Saturday gave a clean chit to Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s son Sulaiman Shahbaz in the money laundering case of Rs 16 billion.
Salman, who returned to Pakistan in early December after four years of self-imposed exile in London, was named in a corruption case registered with the FIA. His father Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif and brother Hamza Shahbaz have already been acquitted in the case.
A special court in Lahore had on December 23, 2022 granted interim bail to Sulaiman on a surety bond of Rs 100,000 in a money laundering case after he filed a bail application saying that before the court declared him a fugitive. Legal procedures need to be met.
Before his return to Pakistan, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had restrained the FIA from arresting him.
During today’s hearing in the Special Court (Central), the investigating agency submitted a supplementary challan, stating that Sulaiman and co-accused Tahir Naqvi were “not found guilty”.
The court was hearing Sulaiman’s pre-arrest bail application.
However, during the hearing, advocate Amjad Pervaiz told the court that Sulaiman and Naqvi wanted to withdraw their earlier bail applications.
PTI will challenge the acquittal in the Supreme Court.
Reacting to the development, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) senior vice-president Fawad Chaudhry said the current government’s “sole objective” is to end cases against its members.
“Ever since this government came to power, they have only one goal [which is] to finish their cases,” Fawad told a private channel. He said that Sulaiman getting a clean chit is also connected.
Fawad further said that PTI will challenge the acquittal of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) Senior Vice President Maryam Nawaz, Prime Minister Shehbaz and others in various cases in the Supreme Court.
He said that in this regard, an application will be filed in the Supreme Court on Monday.
The Case
In November 2020, the investigating agency registered a case against Shahbaz and his sons Hamza and Sulaiman under Sections 419, 420, 468, 471, 34 and 109 of the Anti-Corruption Act and Section 3/4 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act.
An arrest warrant was issued for Suleiman, but in a report submitted to the court, the FIA said that the warrant could not be executed as Suleiman was not present at his address and had gone abroad.
In July this year, the trial court declared him as an accomplice along with another accused in the Rs 16 billion money laundering case.
According to the FIA report, the investigation team found 28 benami accounts of Shehbaz family through which money laundering of Rs 16.3 billion was done during 2008-18. FIA examined the money trail of 17,000 credit transactions.
The report added that the money was kept in “secret accounts” and “personally given to Shahbaz”.
