Bakht Fakhar Bahzad, a special central court judge on Saturday summoned Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s son Suleman Shehbaz and co-accused Muhammad Tahir Naqvi to face the trial after disagreeing with the FIA’s investigation wherein both were given a clean chit in the alleged Rs16 billion money laundering case.
The judge fixed March 4 as the date for the hearing with directions to come up for placing arguments on acquittal applications of aforementioned accused persons including others. “I am of the affirming view that in this case, the Investigation Officer has recorded the statement of 113 witnesses and from bare perusal of their statements recorded under section 161 C.P.C. I have straightway observed that all witnesses had supported the prosecution story and 113 witnesses had struck their guns towards accused Suleman Shehbaz Sharif and Syed Muhammad Tahir Naqvi co-accused facing trial as perpetrator of the offence in question,” the judge said after reviewing the available data.
“It is astonishing that when the investigation was conducted by the IO with regard to accused Suleman Shehbaz and Syed Muhammad Tariq Naqvi, he did not even bother to go through the incriminating material already collected by the IO of this case what to speak of joining them in the investigation and placed the names of accused Suleman Shehbaz and Syed Muhammad Tahir Naqvi in column No-2 of the report under section 173 Cr.P.C.”
“I venture to conclude that prima-facie sufficient incriminating material is available on the record on the basis of which Suleman Shehbaz Sharif and Syed Muhammad Tahir Naqvi can be summoned as accused persons to face the trial. Therefore, without further going into niceties of the law and facts which would not be prudent, Suleman Shehbaz Sharif and Syed Muhammad Tahir Naqvi be summoned as accused in this case to face the trial,” the judge ordered.
During the arguments, the special public prosecutor submitted the brief facts in the shape of consolidated report under section 173 Cr.P.C along with the consolidated list of the witnesses.
