Shehbaz, Hamza granted interim bail in money laundering case

A Special court central-1 (commonly known FIA court) on Thursday granted interim pre-arrest bail to Leader of Opposition in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza Shahbaz in a Rs 16 billion mega money laundering case filed against them by the Federal Investigation Agency.

Both leaders of the PML-N have approached the special court with fresh bail petitions after a special court (offences in bank) had allowed an objection of the FIA on its jurisdiction and transferred the case to hear trial.

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The court allowed the bail against the submission of surety bonds of Rs. 200000 each and directed them to reappear before the court on February 1.

As the hearing commenced, the judge asked Sharifs’ lawyer whether he had withdrawn the bail petitions from the earlier court. Advocate Amjad Peraiz said they would do the same after the grant of interim bail from this court. However, the court did not agree with him and directed to take back the bail applications from the first court. Later, the counsel presented the withdrawal order of the first court and the court granted bail till Feb 1. During the hearing, the court also turned down the counsel’s plea to defer the hearing for a longer period as Shehbaz Sharif is a cancer patient and suffering from Corona.

The FIA had already submitted the Challan in court for commencement of trial under the provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947 and Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2010.

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The FIA’s challan in the instant case (FIR No. 39/ 2020 FIA Anti-Corruption Circle Lahore) comprises Final Investigation Report (66 Pages) along-with seven (7) additional volumes (Volume I to VII) comprising 4370 Pages of documentary evidence.

The FIA had booked Shehbaz and his sons Hamza and Suleman in November 2020 under sections 419, 420, 468, 471, 34 and 109 – financial fraud, impersonation and forgery – of the PPC and 5(2) and 5(3) – criminal misconduct – of Prevention of Corruption Act and r/w 3/4 of Anti Money Laundering Act. Suleman Shehbaz is absconding in the UK.