LAHORE: A proclamation to formally declare Rabia Imran, daughter of Leader of Opposition in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif, an absconder in the Rs7 billion money laundering and illegal assets reference has been issued and pasted on her two residences.

The accountability court seized with the reference had ordered the NAB to start the process under section 87 of Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) to declare Ms Imran an absconder for not attending the proceedings against her despite repeated summons.

The court had also directed the NAB to read the proclamation at a conspicuous place at the residential address of the suspect where she used to live in addition to affix the same on the property. A copy of the proclamation would also be pasted at some prominent part of the court’s premises.

The proclamation required the suspect to ensure her appearance before the court on the next hearing - Oct 27.

Meanwhile, Presiding Judge Jawadul Hassan adjourned an application by Mr Shehbaz and his other family members against freezing of their assets by the NAB.

The hearing was deferred till Nov 7 due to unavailability of Advocate Amjad Pervez, the counsel for applicants.

In this case, the NAB argues that the assets were frozen with the approval of the court after the suspects failed to justify their sources of income in the investigation.

The applicants, however, urged the court to revisit its order for freezing the assets.

A total of 20 persons had been nominated in the reference including four approvers – Yasir Mushtaq, Muhammad Mushtaq, Shahid Rafiq and Aftab Mahmood.

The main suspects are Shehbaz’s wife Nusrat, his sons Leader of Opposition in Punjab Hamza and Suleman (absconder), his daughters Rabia Imran and Javeria Ali.

Other suspects are alleged benamidars and business partners of the family including Nisar Ahmad, Qasim Qayum, Rashid Karamat, Masroor Anwar, Fazal Dad Abbasi and Shoaib Qamar.

Published in Dawn, October 23rd, 2020