LAHORE: An accountability court on Wednesday indicted Leader of Opposition in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif, his son Leader of Opposition in Punjab Assembly Hamza Shehbaz and eight other suspects in a Rs7 billion reference of money laundering and assets beyond means.

However, all the suspects pleaded not guilty and decided to contest the trial.

Denying the charges as false and fabricated, Mr Shehbaz said he had been victimised on political grounds. He said all the cases pending against him had been engineered by his political opponents.

Presiding Judge Jawadul Hassan also asked Hamza as if he wanted to say something in his defence.

Hamza also denied the charges levelled in the reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and termed them politically motivated. He said his family had been subjected to vindictive actions at the behest of the government. He pledged to prove his innocence in the trial.

As the suspects pleaded not guilty, the judge directed the NAB to present its witnesses on the next hearing for their evidence.

Shehbaz’s daughter Javeria Ali was also indicted through her pleader while four members of the opposition leader’s family had not so far joined the proceedings before the court. They are Nusrat, wife of Shehbaz, his son Suleman Shehbaz and son-in-law Haroon Yousaf. The proceedings to declare them absconder are under way.

Other suspects indicted on Wednesday include Fazal Dad Abbasi, Rashid Karamat, Muhammad Usman, Masroor Anwar, Nisar Ahmad, Shoaib Qamar and Qasim Qayum. The NAB also nominated four approvers in the reference including Yasir Mushtaq, Muhammad Mushtaq, Shahid Rafiq and Aftab Mahmood.

The reference mainly accused Shehbaz of being a beneficiary of the assets held in the name of his family members and benamidars, who had no sources to acquire such assets. It said the family members and benamidars of the Shehbaz’s family received fake foreign remittances of billions in their personal bank accounts. In addition to these remittances, the bureau said, billions of rupees were laundered by way of foreign pay orders, which were deposited in personal bank accounts of Hamza and Suleman.

The reference said Shehbaz and his family failed to justify the sources of funds used for acquisition of assets.

Outside the judicial complex, the police used force to control charged workers of PML-N who tried to climb the armoured vehicle that brought Shehbaz to the court from the jail.

MNA Rana Sanaullah Khan, MPA Rana Mashood Ali Khan, Raja Hanif Abbasi, Azma Bukhari and other leaders also reached the court to express solidarity with the party president.

Published in Dawn, November 12th, 2020