LahoreIn a major relief to Pakistan Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, a special court here on Wednesday acquitted him and his son Hamza Sharif in the multi-million dollar money laundering case. In November 2020, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had registered a case against Shahbaz and his sons under various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Anti-Money Laundering Act on charges of laundering more than Rs 16 billion.
A court official told PTI, “Special Judge Central (Lahore) Ejaz Hasan Awan acquitted Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif and his son and former Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shahbaz in a money laundering case of Rs 16 billion. He said the court could not find any evidence against him. A special FIA court was to frame charges against Shahbaz and Hamza in the case last month.
read also
He filed a petition to discharge himself and his lawyer started arguing. His lawyer Amjad Parvez presented his ‘final argument’ in court on Monday, saying the FIA had no evidence against his clients. The defense counsel submitted that none of the prosecution witnesses testified against the petitioners. He argued that the prosecution failed to establish any link between the petitioners and the benami bank accounts.
The court has already declared Shahbaz’s younger son Suleman as an absconder in the case. Suleman is absconding since 2019 and is living in Britain. Shahbaz often says that Suleman looks after the family business. The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) tweeted, “Another fabricated case of political persecution comes to an end. Lies have to be destroyed, as Allah has promised.” Meanwhile, a senior leader of the federal coalition government has alleged that Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa saved the Sharif family from conviction in corruption cases.
Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan, leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), said, “Bajwa sahib has saved the Sharif family from conviction and has committed a big crime.” He said the cases against Shahbaz, his elder brother and former prime ministers Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz are well known and their conviction was clear but they were saved by the top man. Former Prime Minister Imran Khan has claimed that the Sharif family has been given “relief” in court cases under an agreement with the ‘Pratishthan’ (referring to the army). (agency)