Court adjourns hearing of case against Shehbaz Sharif family

LAHORE (APP): An accountability court on Wednesday adjourned hearing of money laundering case against Shehbaz Sharif family till January 26 and summoned two NAB witnesses for cross examination on the next date of hearing.

Accountability Court Judge Syed Jawadul Hassan conducted the case proceedings, wherein the jail authorities produced Opposition Leader in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza Shehbaz. However, their counsel Advocate Amjad Pervaiz could not appear due to sickness.

The court recorded statements of a NAB witness, Bilal Zameer, an officer of the Federal Board of Revenue, during the proceedings. The witness stated that he provided tax records and bank statements of Hamza Shehbaz and two others to the NAB investigation officer whereas all the documents were testified.

Subsequently, the court adjourned further proceedings till January 26 and directed NAB witnesses- Bilal Zameer and Muhammad Sharif to ensure their presence for cross examination on the next date of hearing.

The court observed that it would decide the application filed by Shehbaz Sharif for constitution of a medical board after he

(Shehbaz Sharif) told that the medical board had still not been constituted.

The NAB had nominated 16 persons as accused in the case. However, only 10, out of 16, were indicted yet.

Besides Shehbaz Sharif, Hamza Shehbaz, Javeria Ali, Fazl Dad Abbasi, Rashid Karamat, Usman, Masroor Anwar, Nisar Ahmad, Shoaib Qamar, and Qasim Qayyum had been indicted in the case.

However, Salman Shehbaz, Nusrat Shehbaz, Rabia Imran, Tahir Naqvi, Haroon Yousaf Zai and another could not be indicted due to their abscence.

In a reference, comprising 55 volumes, the bureau had alleged that Shehbaz Sharif family committed massive money laundering of Rs 7 billion. Yasir Mushtaq, Mushtaq Ahmad, Shahid Rafique and Aftab were made approvers in the reference.