LAHORE: Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) special prosecutor Farooq Bajwa on Friday was shifted to the Services Hospital after he fainted while representing prosecution in a case before a special court (central-I).

A lawyer present in the court said Mr Bajwa fell unconscious apparently due to dehydration and low blood pressure. He was shifted to the hospital in an ambulance.

Mr Bajwa also represents the FIA in a Rs16 billion money laundering case against Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his son Punjab Chief Minister Hamza.

He was supposed to resume prosecution’s arguments on Saturday (today) against the pre-arrest bail of the father and son duo as the defence counsel had concluded his arguments at the last hearing.

The appearance of the special prosecutor in Saturday’s hearing is unlikely as doctors advised him to take rest for a couple of days.

At the last hearing, Mr Bajwa had told the special court that the FIA required custody of PM Shehbaz and CM Hamza to complete the investigation against them in the money laundering case.

The defence had objected to the prosecutor’s request, saying both Shehbaz and Hamza appeared before the investigators whenever they were summoned. He said the request for the arrest was baseless after submission of challan by the prosecution.

One of the co-suspects, Malik Maqsood Ahmad, alias “Maqsood chaprasi”died in Dubai a couple of days ago. He has been declared a proclaimed offender by the FIA for not joining the investigation.

Published in Dawn, June 11th, 2022