From Abid Usman
LAHORE: A Lahore court on Friday delayed the indictment of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif and others in a money laundering case while extending his bail till February 28.
Special court Judge Ijazul Ahsan Awan presided over the hearing of a case against Shehbaz and others for their alleged involvement in laundering around Rs16 billion in the sugar scam case.
During the hearing, the counsel representing the PML-N leader said the copies of the challan shared by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) were not legible due to their poor print quality.
“The bank officials did not share the copies of 164 statements with the team,” the counsel added.
The court ordered the FIA to share new copies with Shehbaz’s legal team and adjourned the hearing till February 28.
After the hearing, the PML-N president while talking to media outside the court said that the National Assembly session was postponed because of the date of his indictment given by the court last week.
Shehbaz said the FIA had wanted the court to change the indictment date. “They wanted to change the date so ‘I could not skip the hearing on account of the NA session’,” he added.
“However, the government has changed the date of the assembly session,” mentioned Shehbaz, adding that the government wanted to frame the charges against him today but “Allah is almighty”.
Last week, a special court in Lahore had decided to indict the PML-N president, his sons Hamza and Suleman and others on February 18 (today) for their alleged involvement in laundering around Rs16 billion in the sugar scam case.
The FIA had booked Shehbaz, Hamza and Suleman Shehbaz in November 2020 under sections 419, 420, 468, 471, 34 and 109 — financial fraud, impersonation and forgery — of the Pakistan Penal Code and 5(2) and 5(3) — criminal misconduct — of Prevention of Corruption Act and r/w 3/4 of Anti Money Laundering Act.
