A special court in Lahore granted pre-arrest bails to Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif and his son Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Hamza Shehbaz in a Rs16 billion money laundering case registered against them by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).
The court asked both PM Shehbaz and CM Hamza to pay Rs1 million in surety bonds, each within seven days.
Both the PM and his son CM Hamza appeared before the court on Saturday.
During the hearing, the court asked Shehbaz if he has no ownership of Ashiana Housing Scheme and Ramzan Sugar Mills, to which the PM replied, “I have no stake in either.”
PM Shehbaz asked: “Why would I engage in corruption and money laundering and harm the family business?”
He said the Federal Investigative Agency (FIA) was provided with all the facts verbally. “I faced countless hearings and trials. The FIA was admonished for not presenting a challan. I believe the FIA was preparing for an arrest, hence the challan was delayed,” he added.
“The entire case is built on lies and will be buried,” PM Shehbaz further said during the hearing.
PM Shehbaz’s attorney Amjad Pervez stated that the fact that both of them [Shehbaz and Hamza] had previously been interrogated in jail by the FIA was sufficient proof for their bail.
He said, “The case has been ongoing for more than a year and now we discover that the suspects were not made part of the inquiry.”
Last year, the FIA submitted a challan against Shehbaz and Hamza to the special court for their alleged involvement in a money laundering case.
The report said that the amount was kept in “hidden accounts” and “given to Shehbaz in a personal capacity”.
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