After Imran Khan's arrest, NAB declares Shehbaz Sharif 'innocent' in money laundering case

Amid the ongoing political turmoil that has engulfed the country following the arrest of former Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) declared PM Shehbaz Sharif “innocent” in a money laundering case. According to the Pakistani news outlet Geo TV, the case was filed against the Pakistani premier, his son Hamza Shehbaz and others and was filed by the anti-graft body. 

As per Geo TV, the hearing was heard by Judge Qamar-ul-Zaman at an accountability court on Wednesday. The case dealt with the PKR 7 billion references against them for assets “beyond means,” which was allegedly laundered by Sharif and co. After the anti-graft body submitted a supplementary report for the money laundering reference, NAB acquitted the PM and others who were indicted in the case. Sharif’s legal representative Anwar Hussain appeared in the court for Wednesday's hearing.

From guilty to getting acquitted

Earlier, the bureau had declared PM Sharif and his family guilty of the money laundering case. At that time, NAB had claimed in references filed against the PM’s family in 30 years that their assets had increased from Rs 2 million to Rs 7 billion. The problem became worse since the family failed to justify this increase in the asset. The other nominated accused are Nisar Ahmad, Syed Muhammad Tahir Naqvi, Ali Muhammad Khan, Qasim Qayyum, Rashid Karamat, Masroor Anwar, Muhammad Usman, Fazal Dad Abbasi, Muhammad Shoaib Qamar, and Haroon Yousaf Aziz.

During the hearing, the prosecutor said a fresh investigation was conducted into the allegation, in light of the new amendments introduced in the National Accountability Ordinance 1999, Dawn reported. The fresh investigation concluded that no offence was conducted under the new NAB law which was established.

Presiding Judge Qamaruz Zaman then went on to direct the prosecutor to come up with arguments on May 24, to convince the court of the supplementary reference and the relevance of the new amendments to the instant case. In the hearing, the judge also extended the pre-arrest bail of accused Haroon Yousaf and Tahir Naqvi till the next hearing, Dawn reported. The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) gave a clean chit to Suleman in the money laundering case.