Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, his son Hamza Shehbaz, and other individuals have been deemed “innocent” by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in relation to Rs7 billion in references brought against them for having assets that were beyond their means and money laundering.
The anti-graft organisation provided a supplementary report for the money laundering case during a hearing that was heard by Judge Qamar-ul-Zaman at an accountability court in Lahore on Wednesday.
Anwar Hussain, the prime minister’s legal counsel, attended the hearing in which the NAB cleared the prime minister, his son, and other defendants of all charges.
The accountability court adjourned the hearing at the conclusion of the case until May 24.
The agency had already found PM Shehbaz and his family accountable for money laundering and possessing assets that were above their means totaling Rs7 billion.
In references made against the Shehbaz family, NAB alleged that their assets had grown from Rs2 million to Rs7 billion over the previous 30 years, a claim that the family was unable to substantiate.
The NAB had claimed that the accused PM Shehbaz had created an organised money laundering scheme with the help of his co-accused family members, benamidars, front men, close friends, employees, and money laundering in order to amass assets worth Rs7.3 billion that were out of proportion to his known sources of income.
As a result, the accountability watchdog also mentioned PM Shehbaz, his wife Nusrat Shehbaz, their sons Hamza and Suleman Shehbaz, as well as their daughters Rabia Imran and Javeria Ali.
