NAB claims solid evidence against Hamza Shahbaz

ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Saturday rejected the media reports about PML-N leader Hamza Shahbaz and said it had solid evidence in the assets case (TT case) against him.

The NAB spokesman said solid evidence, statements of witnesses and necessary documents would be presented before the relevant respected accountability court in Lahore and the law will take its own course. Regarding Hamza’s innocence, the spokesman said the Lahore High Court had already rejected his bail application. “The honourable court is the relevant authority to decide on the innocence of Hamza Shahbaz as per law,” he said.

The spokesman said people propagating about innocence of Hamza in the media should better appear before the respected accountability court and plead his innocence there as defence witness.

Earlier, PML-N Spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb said that Opposition Leader in the Punjab Assembly Hamza Shehbaz should be released from the custody of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). Hamza had recently filed a petition for bail in the Supreme Court (SC) of Pakistan in a money laundering case and assets beyond means of income case against him.

Aurangzeb said that Hamza is a victim of "political vengeance", adding that the NAB "should face action for punishing an innocent person". The PML-N spokesperson said that the opposition leader has appeared before the court more than 50 times in relation to trumped up charges.

She said that so far the accountability watchdog has failed to find evidence of any corruption but Hamza is still facing punishment.

On June 11 last year, NAB had arrested Hamza after the Lahore High Court (LHC) rejected his application for interim bail in the Ramzan Sugar Mills and money laundering cases.