PTI on Wednesday termed the acquittal of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza Shehbaz in the Rs 16 billion money laundering case by the special court as a slap in the face of the nation by the judicial system of the country.
In November 2020, the FIA registered a case against Shehbaz and his two sons Hamza and Sulaiman under sections 419, 420, 468, 471, 34 and 109 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act.
Addressing a gathering in Sharqpur, PTI chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan said the acquittal had put a veil over the “theft of billions of rupees” by the father and son.
In a tweet, senior PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry said that money laundering of Rs 24 billion has been done for Hamza and Shehbaz.
“[It’s] another slap in the face of the nation’s judicial system,” he said.
“On the one hand, [they] are asking for funds for the flood victims [while] on the other hand, a family has looted billions of rupees.”
Fawad said that the laundered money belongs to the people of Pakistan.
Another PTI leader, Malika Bukhari, also expressed her displeasure at the verdict in her tweet, saying that “big criminals of the country” and “convicted thieves” were “honorably acquitted”.
He tweeted, “Pakistanis, congrats on the ‘end of justice’.”
However, PTI parliamentary leader in Sindh Khurram Sher Zaman said that he was not surprised by the acquittal of Prime Minister Shehbaz and Hamza.
I am not surprised at the acquittal of Shahbaz Sharif and Hamza in the money laundering case. The door of prosecution is in the hands of imported government. We can guess his motive for coming to power from the beginning,” Zaman tweeted.
The resignation of DGFIA and the absence of witnesses is the real sign of nepotism. Now no one is going to ask how billions of rupees were transferred to employees’ accounts,” he added.
