Staff Reporter
The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) approached an accountability court (AC) on Monday to cancel the bail granted to PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza Shehbaz, who is the leader of the opposition in the Punjab Assembly, in sugar scandal and money laundering cases.
According to a private Tv channel, the FIA submitted to the court a report, saying that both the father and son were beneficiaries of the sugar scandal, which led to the laundering of their money abroad.
The report alleges that Shehbaz and Hamza had laundered Rs25 billion offshore; that they opened bank accounts in the names of Ramzan Sugar Mills’ 20 lowly paid employees, and laundered money through Hundi.
The report says that since three people nominated in the case namely including Suleman Shehbaz, Tahir Naqvi and Malik Masood have already fled the country, therefore it is feared that both Shehbaz and Hamza may also leave the country to avoid accountability.
According to the report, transactions were made through suspicious accounts between 2008 and 2018.
The FIA argues that a probe into the cases could not be completed if both the suspects remain on bail. “Furthermore, they are not cooperating with the investigators,” the report alleges.
According to the FIA, it has come to light that over Rs2 billion were laundered in the name of peon Maqsood; over Rs2 billion in the name of Haji Naeem, a friend of Mushtaq Cheeni, Rs2.50 billion in the name of Cheeni’s driver, Rs1.75 billion in the name of peon Aslam while Rs4.50 billion were laundered in the names of clerks – Azhar, Ghulam Shabbir and Khizar Hayat.
Similarly, accounts were also opened in the names of Qaiser Abbas, Akbar, Iqrar, Anwar, Yasin, Ghazanfar, Zafar Iqbal, Kashif Majeed and Masroor Anwar.
The report states that Sharif Group of Companies’ chief financial officer kept monitoring the money laundering.
Moreover, Shehbaz Sharif’s camp office was used for receiving the amounts. The FIA further alleges that stacks of currency notes were brought to Suleman Shehbaz’s office under police protocol. And from Suleman’s office, these amounts were laundered abroad.
On the other hand, a sessions court extended the interim bail of opposition leaders – Shahbaz Sharif and Hamza Shahbaz in the FIA cases till August 16. The court summoned the lawyers for discussion.
Banking court duty judge Hamid Hussain heard the money laundering cases of Shahbaz Sharif and Hamza Shahbaz on bail application.
The accused appeared before the court. During the hearing, the FIA deputy director submitted a progress report to the court.
