Before Pakistan acquittal, Suleman Shehbaz was given clean chit by UK in money-laundering case

LONDON: Prime Minister Shehbaz’s Sharif son Suleman Shehbaz Sharif has been acquitted by a special court in Lahore in the Rs16 billion money laundering case filed by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) but it’s relevant to mention that Suleman Shehbaz got clean chit from United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency (NCA) in September 2021 along with his father after a through money-laundering investigation the UK govt conducted on request of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) government.

In giving clean chit to Shehbaz in September 2021, the UK NCA also cleared Suleman Shehbaz who was the focus of a money-laundering probe along with his father and their family friend and British Pakistani millionaire businessman Zulfikar Ahmed.

The NCA - acting on the information provided by Assets Recovery Unit (ARU), FIA, NAB and lobbying by the PTI government as well as Daily Mail’s article had investigated Shehbaz Sharif and Suleman Shehbaz for holding assets through offshore accounts and made inquiries in Switzerland, Italy, America and Dubai to determine if Zulfikar Ahmed was holdings Sharifs’ money in offshore accounts through complex offshore structures, according to court papers released by the Westminster Magistrates’ Court. Accounts and assets of the three accused were frozen by the NCA during the investigation.