Islamabad: Suleman Shehbaz, son of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Tuesday received a 14-day protective bail from the Islamabad High Court (IHC).
The IHC, while granting him protective bail, also directed him to appear before the relevant trial court hearing a money laundering case against him.
After spending the last four years in self-exile in the United Kingdom, Suleman Shehbaz, son of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, arrived in Pakistan on Sunday.
The development came after Suleman Shehbaz filed an application in the IHC seeking protective bail via his lawyer Amjad Pervez last week.
The IHC had denied protective bail to Suleman, citing his absence, but barred the authorities from arresting him from the airport on his arrival to Pakistan. It had ordered Suleman Shehbaz to surrender before it on December 13 (today).
However, today Suleman appeared before the IHC along with his counsel and other party leaders.
Amjad Pervez apprised that his client has to appear before the central special judge in Lahore. At this, IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq granted protective bail to Suleman and directed him to appear before the relevant court within 14 days.
Suleman Shehbaz left Pakistan ahead of the 2018 general elections when several cases were made against him by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). He was also named in many cases along with his father, the current prime minister, his brother Hamza Shehbaz, and other Sharif family members.
The Assets Recovery Unit (ARU), headed by Imran Khan’s former accountability minister Shahzad Akbar, had Suleman Sharif investigated in London in Shehbaz Sharif’s money-laundering and misuse of public office case by the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA), but he was given a clean chit after two years of investigation by the UK’s top anti-corruption sleuths.
Suleman claimed he was forced to leave Pakistan after fake and manipulated cases were against him and his family in order to facilitate a new political order.
