The United Kingdom’s (UK) anti-corruption force National Crime Agency (NCA) told the Westminster Magistrates’ Court on December 19, 2019, that it needed Assets Freezing Orders (AFO’s) to initiate a high-profile investigation into former Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his son Suleman Sharif to “prove or disprove” their alleged involvement in money-laundering, fraud, corrupt practices and misuse of public office for the purposes of money-laundering, reports Murtaza Ali Shah for The News.
It was reported in November last year that the NCA has ended a major money-laundering investigation into Shehbaz Sharif and his son Suleman without any further action and unfreezing of the assets after finding no evidence of criminal conduct, money-laundering and abuse of public office. It was then claimed by Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s adviser on accountability Shehzad Akbar that Shehbaz Sharif was not part of the investigation because his name was not part of the Order that set aside the AFO’s.
The NCA told the court: “This application is in respect of funds held in the name of or associated to, Suleman Shahbaz Sharif and Shehbaz Sharif (officer note: frequently referred to as Shehbaz Sharif/Shahbaz Sharif).”
The NCA said it suspected that the money that was transferred to Carter Ruck’s account was “in fact deemed to be associated to Suleman Sharif”. After the court granted AFO’s to NCA, further steps were taken to seek access to Shehbaz Sharif’s accounts at Barclays Bank and Habib Bank’s London branch as part of the “Frozen Funds” investigation.
The NCA officer told the court it suspected that “the funds which are intended to be frozen are derived from this criminal conduct in Pakistan, namely accrued from the Sharif Group or by Shehbaz Sharif during his time as Chief Minister of Punjab. I suspect that this represents an active attempt by Shehbaz Sharif and Suleman Sharif to launder the proceeds of their criminality into the UK”.
In introducing to the court who Shehbaz Sharif and Suleman Sharif were and why it intended to investigate them for the alleged criminal conduct of money-laundering, the NCA explained to the judge that Shehbaz Sharif is a “Politically Exposed Person (PEP) and has held a series of political appointments in Pakistan from the early 90s onwards, including president of the PML-N, Chief Minister of Punjab, and leader of the opposition provincial assembly of the Punjab”.
It’s pertinent to mention that the NCA relied heavily on Daily Mail’s article by David Rose dated July 14, 2019, which he had published after visiting Pakistan for several days where he was given access to detainees who allegedly did money-laundering for the Sharifs.
David Rose had claimed: “Britain’s National Crime Agency is working closely with Pakistani investigators and Home Secretary Sajid Javid is discussing the possible extradition of members of Shahbaz’s family who have taken refuge in London.”
Shehzad Akbar had confirmed to David Rose in the same article: “We are working closely with the National Crime Agency and the Home Office. We are grateful for this assistance and we hope it will ensure that theft and money-laundering of this magnitude will never happen again.” The NCA told the court: “The Assets Recovery Unit (ARU) was created by PM Imran Khan to assist in the recovery of criminal assets to the state of Pakistan. This letter has confirmed that Shehbaz Sharif is currently under investigation by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Pakistan’s autonomous federal and anti-corruption agency, and was granted bail by the Accountability Court on February 14, 2019.”
The NCA informing the court why it’s working with the ARU on these cases, said: “The ARU was created by PM Imran Khan under the leadership of his accountability advisor, a barrier and member of the Pakistan cabinet. The ARU was created to break down inter-agency barriers, combine in one pace the discrete powers of the federal agencies; and, prioritise asset recovery in the interests of the govt of Pakistan. The unit is formed of representatives from the NAB, FIA, FBR, and the State Bank of Pakistan.”
The NCA investigation continued into Shehbaz Sharif for almost two years as the NCA went back nearly 15 years to investigate Shehbaz Sharif’s accounts and financial affairs and found no evidence of criminal conduct or fraud. The investigation was shut down in November 2021 after the NCA failed to establish that Shehbaz Sharif and his family were involved in any kind of wrongdoing, effectively giving Shehbaz Sharif a clean chit.
