Arguments sought on Shahbaz family's plea to unfreeze assets

LAHORE: An accountability court Monday again sought arguments from the counsel of Opposition Leader in National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif by January 14 on applications moved by his family seeking unfreezing of their assets. Previously, the National Accountability Bureau had informed the court that money-laundering investigations against Shahbaz Sharif, Salman Shahbaz, Hamza Shahbaz and others continued. The NAB claimed Shahbaz had made assets in the name of his wives. However, the family failed to disclose sources of their income, which was in violation of the Finance Act and the Money Laundering Act. On the other end, the Shahbaz family had moved the court against the NAB’s act of freezing their assets, arguing that it was illegal to freeze assets during the course of investigations. After receiving the NAB reply, the court of Jawadul Hassan summoned both parties for arguments by May 5. On December 11, 2019, an accountability court had confirmed the National Accountability Bureau Lahore’s orders to freeze properties owned by PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif, his sons Hamza Shahbaz and Salman Shahbaz and other family members in connection with an investigation involving incomes beyond means and money laundering. The court in its orders observed, “The Shahbaz family's wealth from 2003 to 2018 prima facie is not proportionate to their known sources of income, which has not been explained by the accused”. The judgment stated: “At this stage, even the provisions of the Protection of Economic Reforms Act, 1992, would not be helpful to the accused party unless sources of payments were disclosed by them.”