Suleman Shehbaz, the son of the prime minister, has applied for protective bail in a money laundering case with the IHIC.
Suleman Shehbaz, the son of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, chose to return home and applied for protective bail at the Islamabad High Court on Wednesday (IHC).
Suleman’s attorney Amjad Pervaiz submitted a plea to the IHC asking for two weeks of precautionary bail in a money laundering case that had been filed against him.
In a petition, Suleman claimed that he is a “businessman” and has “never held a public post.” Additionally, he claimed that a “false case of money laundering” had been brought against him.
The petitioner further asserted that the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) still has “all shares” registered and that he has never received a notice from the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).
The petition stated, “I have been resident in the United Kingdom since 2018,” and added that the FIA had brought a case against him while he was away.
In November 2020, the FIA filed a complaint under Sections 419, 420, 468, 471, 34, and 109 of the Prevention of Corruption Act and r/w 3/4 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act against former opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif and his sons Hamza and Suleman.
The agency filed a challan in December 2021 accusing Shehbaz and Hamza of being involved in a Rs16 billion money laundering scandal.
According to the FIA report, an investigating team discovered 28 benami accounts belonging to the Shehbaz family.
They asserted that between 2008 and 2018, R16.3 billion was laundered through these accounts. The FIA had looked at 17,000 credit transactions’ financial records.
According to the allegation, the money was maintained in secret accounts and given to Shehbaz on a personal level.
The FIA had claimed that Shehbaz had used the unlawful practise of hundi to send money to his relatives outside of Pakistan from the accounts of low-wage workers.
At least 11 low-paid Sharif family staffers were allegedly “guilty” of aiding in this purported money laundering.
Prime Minister Shehbaz and his son Hamza Shehbaz were, however, exonerated in the Rs16 billion money laundering case by a special central court in October.
