Money laundering case: Shahbaz’s daughter, son declared absconders

Ag APP

LAHORE: An accountability court on Thursday declared three family members of Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, Shahbaz Sharif, absconders in a money laundering and assets beyond the means case.

Shahbaz’s son Salman Shahbaz, daughter Rabia Imran and son-in-law Haroon Yousuf were declared absconders after they failed to appear in the court despite repeated summons.

Accountability Court Judge Syed Jawadul Hassan conducted the case proceedings, wherein jail authorities produced Shahbaz Sharif, Hamza Shahbaz and others on the expiry of their judicial remand term.

At the start of the proceedings, the accountability court judge and NAB prosecutor Usman G Rashid Cheema condoled with Shahbaz Sharif over the demise of his mother. An associate of Sharif’s counsel Amjad Pervaiz requested the court to adjourn the proceedings as the senior counsel could not appear due to his engagements. However, the court rejected the request and recorded statements of the three prosecution witnesses Tayyab Zawar, Khalid Mehmood and Faisal Bilal.

The witness Faisal Bilal stated that, in 2019, he was posted as deputy secretary Budget and Finance in the Punjab Assembly and he gave record of perks and privileges obtained by Shahbaz Sharif and his son Hamza Shahbaz as members of the provincial assembly, to the NAB investigation officer.

At this stage, the court declared Salman Shahbaz, Rabia Imran and Haroon Yousuf as absconders. The court observed that the accused were summoned through a proclamation, however, they had still not appeared in the court despite 30 days’ time period.

Subsequently, the court adjourned the further hearing till December 3 and ordered for cross examination of the witnesses on the next date of hearing. It is pertinent to mention here that the court did not declare Shahbaz Sharif’s wife Nusrat Shahbaz as absconder because 30 days’ time period had not completed.

The NAB had nominated 16 persons as accused in the case. However, only 10, out of 16, were indicted yet. Besides Shahbaz Sharif, Hamza Shahbaz, Javeria Ali, Fazl Dad Abbasi, Rashid Karamat, Muhammad Usman, Masroor Anwar, Nisar Ahmad, Shoaib Qamar, and Qasim Qayyum had been indicted in the case.

However, Salman Shahbaz, Nusrat Shahbaz, Rabia Imran, Syed Muhammad Tahir Naqvi, Haroon Yousuf Zai and another could not be indicted due to their absence. In a reference comprising 55 volumes, the bureau had alleged that Shahbaz Sharif family committed money laundering worth billions. Yasir Mushtaq, Mushtaq Ahmad, Shahid Rafique and Aftab were made approvers in the reference.