Money laundering case: LHC dismisses Shehbaz’s plea against FIA probe

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) Thursday dismissed a petition, filed by Opposition Leader in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif, and his son Hamza Shehbaz, challenging the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) probe into money-laundering charges against them, after being withdrawn.

The division bench, headed by LHC Chief Justice Muhammad Ameer Bhatti, heard the petition. The petitioners’ counsel, Advocate Amjad Pervaiz, argued before the bench that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had filed a reference against the petitioners on charges of money laundering during the period from 2008 to 2018.

He submitted that the FIA also registered a case against the petitioners on Nov 14, 2020, on the charges of possessing ‘benamidar’ [without name] accounts during the period of 2008 to 2018. [Benamidar means a person or a fictitious person in whose name a benami property or some amount is transferred or held] He submitted that two different agencies were investigating the same charges, which was not permissible in the law.