Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s indictment in a money laundering case was again postponed on Saturday after the court of Special Judge Central Ijaz Ahmed Awan accepted the prime minister’s plea for exemption from appearance in a money laundering case due to his engagements in London and adjourned the hearing until May 21, 2022.
However, Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz, PM Shehbaz’s son, appeared in court.
During the hearing, Amjad Pervaiz Advocate, the prime minister’s lawyer, stated that Ramzan Sugar Mills, Al-Arabia Sugar Mills, and the Sharif Group of Companies were mentioned in the FIR filed against his client. “However, the truth is that he has no connection to any of these businesses or mills.” He’s never been a director of any of these companies,” he said, adding that the prime minister isn’t even a shareholder in Ramzan Sugar Mills.
The lawyer went on to say that no money was transferred from any of the ‘fake’ accounts into his client’s bank account.
He claimed that the PTI government had filed all corruption references against his client without conducting any investigation.
The court has ordered the CCPO to submit the Ashiana Housing Society’s case file:
A court in Lahore, on the other hand, accepted Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s application for exemption from appearance in the Ashiana Iqbal Housing Society reference and adjourned the case until May 21.
The court also expressed its disappointment with the police for failing to submit the case record to it and issued a notice to the CCPO Lahore to bring the record with him on the next hearing date.
Iram Shehzadi, a Home Department law officer, told the court that since the case was filed five years ago, in 2017, police had lost track of it. “As a result, it is prayed to the court that more time is granted to the police so that the record can be traced,” she said.
