NAB granted 14 days physical remand of Shehbaz Sharif in money laundering case

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Tuesday obtained 14-day physical remand of the leader of the opposition Shehbaz Sharif in connection with the money laundering case.

The court ordered the accountability bureau to present Shehbaz Sharif on October 13th.

Shehbaz denied any wrongdoing and argued his case himself in the court.

Earlier, the opposition leader in the National Assembly, who spoke to the media after arriving at the court, said that his party will fight for the justice.

Shehbaz Sharif Arrested

On Monday, NAB had arrested the former Punjab chief minister after the Lahore High Court (LHC) rejected his interim pre-arrest bail.

The NAB team arrested him from the courtroom and took him to the NAB Lahore headquarters amid tight security.

A large number of PML-N supporters who were present on the court premises chanted slogans against the NAB and the government and clashed with the police.

A two-judge bench comprising Justice Sardar Ahmed Naeem and Justice Farooq Haider dismissed the petition as withdrawn.

The anti-graft body has claimed that the assets of Shehbaz’s family ballooned from Rs2 million to Rs7 billion in the last 30 years, which they have failed to justify.

NAB’s Stance

The anti-corruption watchdog alleged that the PML-N president, in connivance with his co-accused family members, benamidars, front men, close associates, employees, and money changers, developed an organized system of money-laundering for the accumulation of assets disproportionate to his known sources of income to the tune of Rs7,328 million.

After holding the public office (mostly during the years 2008 and 2018 when Shehbaz was the chief minister Punjab), his family acquired assets worth Rs 7,328 million, the NAB added.

While sharing the details of assets of the opposition leader, NAB Lahore further claimed that the Shehbaz family invested Rs2,770 million in 13 newly-established companies under the umbrella of the Sharif Group of Companies naming the few as M/s Sharif Feed, M/s Chiniot Power, M/s Al-Arabia Sugar Mills, M/s Sharif Dairy Farms, etc, without having known sources of income.

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The accused established Benami companies namely M/s Good Nature Trading Company Pvt Ltd, M/s Unitas Steel Pvt Ltd, M/s Waqar Trading Company and M/s Nisar Trading Concern (held in the name of Nisar Ahmad and Ali Ahmad, employees of the CM Secretariat) to launder disproportionate funds of Rs2,400.088 million. The accused also acquired properties including foreign assets along with 96-H, Model Town, Lahore, Nishat Lodge Doonga Gali, Villas at Whispering Pines, houses at DHA, Lahore worth Rs619.858 million.

The NAB claimed that to justify the alleged ill-gotten assets of Rs7,328 million, the accused and his family members/benamidars showed foreign remittances of Rs1,597 million and loans of Rs1,010 million, which proved to be fake as the remitters denied having sent any amount to the accused or his family members.

Moreover, loans were falsely shown as the source, while the lenders paid the employees of the Sharif Group, the NAB added.