Pakistan court acquits PM Shehbaz & family in multi-million dollar money laundering case

An accountability court in Pakistan acquitted Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his family members on Thursday in a multi-million-dollar money laundering case after the anti-corruption agency failed to provide any solid evidence against them.

"An Accountability Court acquitted Prime Minister Shehbaz, his wife Nusrat, his son Hamza and daughter Javaria in the PKR 7 billion money laundering case filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in 2020," a court official told PTI.

The official said the court acquitted the premier and his family members after the NAB failed to provide any solid evidence against the suspects regarding the laundering of millions of dollars abroad, especially to the United Kingdom.

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The official further said the court, however, declared another daughter of the premier, Rabia Imran, a proclaimed offender and issued her an arrest warrant.

Rabia had left for the UK since she was named in the case.

The corruption case was filed by the NAB in 2020 during the tenure of Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government.

The Sharif family termed the case a political victimisation.

In October last year, a special court of the Federal Investigation Agency also acquitted Shehbaz in the PKR 16 billion money laundering case.

On July 10, his son, Suleman Shahbaz, was also acquitted in the same case.

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) senior leader barrister Aitzaz Ahsan alleged that former Pakistan Army Chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa and the military establishment had rescued the Sharif family from conviction in corruption cases against them.

“Bajwa sahib has rescued the Sharif family from conviction in cases and he has committed a big crime,” Ahsan said

He said the cases against Prime Minister Shehbaz, his elder brother former premier Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz Sharif were open-and-shut and their conviction was evident but they were rescued by the top man.

The ousted prime minister Khan had already declared that the Sharif family is given relief in court cases under a deal with the powerful military establishment.

Last month, the accountability court acquitted former prime minister and elder brother of Pakistan premier, Nawaz Sharif, in a case of alleged illegal allotment of plots in Punjab province in 1986.