Suleman Shahbaz, the son of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, cannot be detained by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in connection with a money laundering investigation, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) ruled on Thursday.
The ruling was made by IHC Chief Justice Amir Farooq during a hearing on a petition Mr. Suleman filed for protective bail in the case because he intended to stop his self-imposed exile and return to Pakistan.
The premier’s son’s attorney, Amjad Pervaiz, informed the court during the hearing that his client would arrive in Islamabad from Saudi Arabia on December 11. The chief justice responded by directing the suspect to appear in court by December 13.
A day earlier, Mr. Suleman petitioned the high court for protective bail, claiming that a fake money laundering case had been lodged against him.
The FIA had initiated a case against me while I was overseas, but despite having been in the UK since October 27th, 2018, I had never received a notice from them. Even though I left the country in 2018, the case wasn’t filed until 2020 and afterwards. He argued that a two-week protective bail should be set by the court.
In an interview, Suleman charged that Shahzad Akbar, a former assistant to deposed Prime Minister Imran Khan, had entangled him in phoney legal proceedings. He insisted, “We won’t take any unwarranted action against the family of political opponents.”
The prime minister’s son was named a proclaimed criminal in a Rs16 billion money laundering case against the Sharif family in July of last year by a special court in Lahore.
