Remand of Sharif Group of Companies CFO extended

LAHORE: An accountability court on Monday extended 14-day physical remand of Sharif Group of Companies Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Mohammad Usman.

As the hearing commenced, the accountability court judge Akmal Khan asked NAB’s prosecutor to inform the progress in the investigation. To which, the prosecutor stated that the accused took fake loans for the companies of Shahbaz family. The prosecutor implored the court to extend physical remand of the accused as his custody was required. On the other end, counsel of the accused argued that his client was in NAB’s custody for more than 28 days and the bureau had failed to find any concrete evidence against him. The counsel claimed that his client had been arrested on political grounds. He implored the court not to extend Usman’s physical remand. However, the court after hearing the arguments of both parties extended physical remand of the accused for 14 days. As per NAB’ prosecutor, investigation conducted so far revealed that Shahbaz Sharif, Hamza Shahbaz, Suleman Shahbaz and other family members/ benamidars accumulated assets which were disproportionate to their known sources of income to the tune of Rs7.328 billion. The prosecutor said the evidence collected during investigation revealed that the accused CFO aided and abetted the Sharif family.