An accountability court on Thursday acquitted Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his son former Punjab chief minister Hamza Shehbaz alongside other co-accused in a money laundering case.
Announcing the reserved verdict, however, Judge Raja Qamar uz Zaman also issued perpetual arrest warrants for the PM’s daughter Rabia Imran for her sustained failure to appear before the court.
Notably, Shehbaz Sharif, his wife Nusrat Shehbaz and children Hamza, Salman and Rabia were among the 16 individuals accused in the corruption reference.
According to the reference, the accused had been involved in a money laundering scandal amounting to over Rs7.32 billion.
Shehbaz Sharif was accused of having laundered over Rs5 billion and built assets from it while Hamza was accused of laundering around Rs1 billion.
Earlier this month, PM Shehbaz and his son moved motions in the accountability court for their acquittal in money laundering references filed by the National Accountability Bureau during the rule of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party.
In their applications filed through Amjad Pervaiz, Shehbaz and Hamza have contended that NAB filed a false and fabricated case and that the accountability watchdog has no evidence to prove the case.
