LAHORE: An accountability court on Wednesday recorded the statement of a prosecution witness in the reference of money laundering and assets beyond means against the family of Leader of Opposition in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif.

Shehbaz and his son Leader of Opposition in Punjab Assembly Hamza Shehbaz were produced in the court by the jail authorities when Ibrahim Malik, an officer of Inland Revenue department, recorded his statement as a witness of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

The defence counsel would hold cross-examination of Malik and another prosecution witness Muhammad Sharif on the next hearing.

During the hearing, Shehbaz told the court that a reference filed against provincial minister Sibtain Khan and others on charges of corruption in contracts of Chiniot mines was first unearthed by him when he was the chief minister of Punjab in 2008.

Non-bailable warrants for Shehbaz’s daughter, son-in-law in Saaf Pani reference

He said the contract was awarded without open bid to a brother of the secretary of former president retired Gen Pervez Musharraf. He said the NAB had refused to make a case out of the corruption in the contract.

“But now the NAB has filed a reference after 13 years,” Shehbaz said, adding that had he been a corrupt person he could have made money in the award of the contracts instead of reporting the corruption to the NAB.

Presiding Judge Jawadul Hassan reminded Mr Shehbaz that the case he was talking about was not before his court.

The judge adjourned hearing till Jan 12 for the cross-examination of the witnesses and also issued notice to the NAB on an application of Shehbaz seeking formation of a medical board for his check-up.

After the rising of the court, Mr Shehbaz briefly talked to his elder brother former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who is in London, on a cellular phone and discussed the current political situation.

WARRANTS: An accountability court on Wednesday issued non-bailable warrants for the arrest of a daughter and a son-in-law of Shehbaz Sharif in a reference of alleged corruption in Punjab Saaf Pani Company.

The investigating officer submitted a report before the court and stated that the suspects - Rabia and her husband Imran Ali Yousaf - had not joined the investigation despite repeated notices and bailable warrants.

The court, consequently, issued non-bailable warrants for the arrest of the couple and adjourned hearing till Jan 23.

PML-N’s former MPA Raja Qamarul Islam and Waseem Ajmal are the prime suspects in the reference for being the former chairman and chief executive officer of the Punjab Saaf Pani Company, respectively.

The NAB later also implicated Shehbaz’s daughter and her husband in the supplementary reference.

Published in Dawn, January 7th, 2021