Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif has been produced before an accountability court in Lahore following his arrest in an asset beyond means and money laundering case a day earlier by the country’s graft buster.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) officials took Shehbaz into custody on September 28 after the Lahore High Court (LHC) dismissed his request for pre-arrest bail.
According to Express, NAB would request the court for physical remand of Punjab's former chief minister.
According to the anti-graft body, Shehbaz laundered billions of rupees from various anonymous accounts and pocketed it through his frontmen, employees and money changers.
NAB Lahore said that in 1990, Shahbaz’s assets were worth Rs2.1 million whereas his assets and those of his children were worth Rs18 million in 1998. Shahbaz and his sons set up nine business units from 2008 to 2018. An inquiry was launched against Shahbaz after receiving a complaint from the SBP's Financial Monitoring Unit.
A heavy contingent of police and Punjab Rangers has been deployed around the court premises. All routes to and from the judicial complex have been cordoned off with containers while barbed wire and barriers have been installed to stop party workers. Water cannons have also been deployed.
A day earlier, Shehbaz’s second counsel, Amjad Pervez, argued that NAB is claiming that the assets of Shehbaz’s family have phenomenally increased. However, this increase in assets has taken place at a juncture when these members ceased to be dependant upon the petitioner.
He said NAB prepared a reference consisting of 58 volumes, but no substantial documentary evidence is available to establish Shehbaz Sharif’s guilt and the reference contains nothing but the investigation officer’s (IO) opinions.
“No statements of any witnesses and accused persons have been recorded under Section 161 and 164 the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). Shehbaz Sharif was not summoned at that time when statements of ‘NAB approvers’ were recorded before the magisterial court,” he argued.
An approver is an accomplice to a crime being tried who gives evidence for the prosecution
He argued that it was difficult for NAB to establish its case against Shehbaz Sharif. Shehbaz Sharif is answerable for his doings but not for his children.
When the bench granted him permission to speak, Shehbaz Sharif presented a short overview of the projects he initiated and services he “rendered to the nation” while in power. He claimed he had saved over Rs1,000 billion of the country by adopting better policies during his tenure as Punjab chief minister.
“I worked hard for the nation and protected the national exchequer. I am not an angle but I have been donating my salary to Ghulab Devi Hospital. NAB may very well investigate but it cannot find any corruption even if it is given 2.5 centuries [to investigate,” the PML-N leader claimed.
NAB’s prosecutor Faisal Raza Bukhari in his arguments contended that on January 12, 2018, suspicious transactions were noted by the Financial Monitoring Unit (FMU) in Shehbaz family’s bank accounts.
from News Updates From Pakistan - Pakistani News - The Express Tribune https://ift.tt/33dTZb0
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