Court Acquits PM Shehbaz, Others In NAB Reference

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 20th Jul, 2023 ) :An accountability court on Thursday acquitted Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, his son Hamza Shehbaz, and others in assets beyond means and money laundering reference, filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

PM Shehbaz's wife Nusrat, daughter Javeria Ali were also included among the acquitted persons besides Rashid Karamat, Muhammad Usman, Masroor Anwar, Nisar Ahmad, Shoaib Qamar, Qasim Qayyum, Ali Ahmad, Rana Nauman and others.

Accountability Court Judge Qamaruz Zaman announced the verdict while allowing acquittal applications of PM Shehbaz and 11 others. The court also ordered to de-freeze all assets of the acquitted persons.

Earlier, In his final arguments, the defence counsel argued that all assets of his clients were declared with the Federal board of Revenue and the bureau failed to produce any evidence against them. He submitted that it was a politically motivated and baseless reference, filed against his clients.

He pleaded with the court to allow the applications and acquit his clients.

The investigation officer also recorded his statement and submitted that no element of corruption emerged against the accused in acquiring assets, during the re-investigation process.

The bureau had already informed the court that it did not find any evidence of corruption and money laundering against the prime minister and others through a supplementary report, filed in May. It submitted that a fresh investigation into the allegations was conducted in the light of the new amendments, introduced in the National Accountability Ordinance 1999. It said the investigation concluded that no offence under the NAB law was made out.

In August 2020, the Bureau had filed the reference against the Shehbaz Sharif family members and others. A Lahore High Court (LHC) bench had granted post-arrest bail to the prime minister in April 2021.