The Lahore accountability court indicted Shahbaz Sharif’s wife Nusrat Shahbaz in a money laundering reference.
Money laundering reference against Shahbaz Sharif family was heard in the accountability court.
Hamza Shahbaz and the other accused appeared in the court while the court granted Shahbaz Sharif’s request for pardon.
His lawyer Chaudhry Nawaz Advocate said that the doctors had advised Shahbaz Sharif to rest and he could not appear before the accountability court due to ill health.
In the reference, Accountability Court Judge Naseem Virk indicted Nusrat Shahbaz through his representative and summoned NAB witnesses for testimony at the next hearing.
The accountability court adjourned the hearing on the money laundering reference till October 18.
Money laundering reference
It may be recalled that on August 17, 2020, the NAB had filed a money laundering reference of Rs 8 billion against Shahbaz Sharif, his two sons and other family members in the accountability court.
Later on August 20, the Lahore Accountability Court accepted the money laundering reference against Shahbaz Sharif and his family for hearing.
The reference mainly accused Shahbaz Sharif of taking advantage of assets held in the name of his family members and anonymous persons who had no resources to acquire such assets.
It said that members of the Shahbaz family and anonymous persons had received billions of fake foreign remittances in their personal bank accounts. In addition to these remittances, the bureau said that billions of rupees should be returned through foreign pay orders deposited to Hamza and Suleiman’s personal bank accounts.
The reference further said that Shahbaz Sharif’s family failed to justify the sources of funds used to acquire the assets.
It said the accused committed crimes of corruption and corrupt activities as per the provisions of the National Accountability Ordinance 1999 and the Money Laundering Act 2010 and the court was asked to punish them under the law.
In the said reference, Shahbaz Sharif indicted 10 accused including his son Hamza Shahbaz Sharif on November 11.
In December, the accountability court had declared Nusrat Shahbaz a fugitive, after which he appointed his representative.