LAHORE: A special court (central) on Tuesday granted interim pre-arrest bail to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s daughter Rabia Imran and her husband Imran Yousaf in a Rs16 billion money laundering case.

The couple appeared before the court along with their counsel.

Judge Ashfaq Ahmed heard the case and allowed the bail petitions of the couple, subject to submission of surety bonds and restrained the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) from arresting them till May 7.

The FIA had booked PM Shehbaz, along with his sons Hamza, Suleman and other family members, in 2020 under sections 419, 420, 468, 471, 34 and 109 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, read with Section 3/4 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act 2010.

The trial court had acquitted PM Shehbaz and Hamza Shehbaz during 2022 in the money laundering case, allowing their acquittal applications filed under section 265 K of the CrPC. Suleman was also acquitted in 2023.

The court had ruled that there was no probability of conviction of the accused persons as the prosecution collected no evidence against them.

Last week, an accountability court had suspended the perpetual arrest warrants issued against the prime minister’s daughter Rabia Imran and son-in-law Imran Ali Yousaf in a case related to alleged irregularities in the Punjab Saaf Pani Company. The court had accepted their request to surrender before it and directed them to appear on May 5. The accountability court had issued perpetual warrants for their arrest in 2021 and 2022.

The National Accountability Bbureau’s Lahore office had filed a reference against Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and 20 others in connection with the Saaf Pani Company case. An accountability court had subsequently allowed the acquittal pleas of the prime minister and others.

Published in Dawn, April 29th, 2026