LAHORE: In a big development, an accountability court in Lahore on Thursday accepted Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza Shahbaz’s plea for acquittal in a 7 billion rupees money laundering case.
The court acquitted PM Shehbaz Sharif along with all the co-accused, including Hamza Sharif, Nusrat Shehbaz, Javeria Ali, Masroor Anwar, Shoaib Qamar, Muhammad Usman, Ali Ahmed, Qasim Qayyum, Rashid Karamat, and Nisar Ahmed, except for one.
However, the court issued an arrest warrant for Rabia Imran, the prime minister’s daughter, who had been declared absconder in the case.
The accused had submitted petitions requesting acquittal, basing their argument on National Accountability Court’s (NAB) inability to present any evidence against them.
While announcing the reserved verdict, as NAB has said that it did not have anything against the accused, the court had no other choice except to acquit them.
PM Shehbaz Sharif’s arrest
NAB had filed the reference for the inquiry running since 2018, in August 2020, when prime minister Shehbaz Sharif served as the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly.
He was arrested by the anti-graft watchdog after the Lahore High Court (LHC) rejected his bail in the case on 29 September.
An accountability court indicted PM Shehbaz Sharif, his son and former Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz, and others accused after over a month on 11 November 2020. However, Shehbaz Sharif was released on bail in April 2021.
