From Abid Usman
LAHORE: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has constituted a special prosecution team to pursue the money laundering reference against Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif and his family.
The bureau’s special prosecutor Barrister Usman G Rashid will head the two-member team that also comprises prosecutor Asim Mamtaz as its member. The team will appear in the reference filed by the national graft buster against the PML-N president and members of his family, including Punjab Assembly Opposition Leader Hamza Shehbaz.On Aug 17, the bureau filed Rs7 billion money laundering and assets beyond means reference against the Shehbaz family, including his wife Nusrat Shehbaz, sons – Hamza Shehbaz and Salman Shehbaz and two daughters, Rabia Imran and Javeria Ali.
Hearing the case the other day, an accountability court issued arrest warrants for Salman Shehbaz and Shehbaz’s son-in-law Haroon Yousuf Aziz. It also issued summons to his wife Nusrat Shehbaz and daughters, Rabia and Javeria.
Judge Jawadul Hassan heard the case as the PML-N president and Hamza appeared before the court.
Earlier, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President and Opposition Leader in National Assembly (NA) Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday appeared before accountability court in money laundering case.
During the hearing, Shehbaz said that he has not committed corruption of a single penny. I never took salary from the national exchequer, he added.
The PML-N leader further stated that he had brought international investment worth billions of rupees to Pakistan during his tenure.
Meanwhile, the accountability judge assured to take the decision as per law.
Talking to the media after the hearing, the PML-N leader said that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government is doing politics on ex-premier Nawaz Sharif’s health. The federal authorities had allowed Nawaz Sharif to travel abroad, he added.
Shehbaz further expressed hope that all the political parties will participate in All Parties Conference (APC).
INVESTIGATION REPORT:
According to the NAB investigation report, chief financial officer of Sharif family, Muhammad Usman, laundered money for the Shehbaz family.
Usman started working for the Sharif family in 2005 at Ramzan Sugar Mills for Rs 90,000 per month. In 2006, the Nawaz family acquired Hudaibiya Engineering from the Shehbaz family and in 2007, the Shehbaz family made more companies, including the Sharif Feed Mill, to expand their business.
The bank accounts of Shehbaz’s wife Nusrat Shehbaz and his sons were used for foreign remittances and loans. On the direction of Salman, Waqar Trading Company made fake foreign remittances of Rs600 million, the report stated.
The entire amount was transferred to Suleman Shehbaz’s personal account via cheque but it is not known where he receives his money from, it added.
