LAHORE: The indictment of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his son Chief Minister-elect Hamza Shehbaz was once again delayed in a Rs16 billion money laundering case by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) due to absence of the former in Wednesday’s hearing.

At the outset of the hearing, Advocate Amjad Pervez, the defence counsel, told a special court (Central-I) that Prime Minister Sharif could not appear as he had to chair a meeting of the cabinet in Islamabad. He also filed an application seeking a one-time exemption on behalf of Shehbaz.

Interestingly, the prosecution team of the FIA did not oppose the application and the court allowed the same. Hamza was present before the court.

The defence counsel further argued that the challan filed by the prosecution was not enough for the indictment in the case. He vowed to advance his arguments to this effect on the next hearing.

He requested the court to adjourn the hearing till May 14 saying he was preoccupied in other cases prior to the said date.

Presiding Judge Ijaz Hassan Awan accepted the request owing to the upcoming Eid holidays, however, warned the counsel that no further opportunity for the arguments would be given.

“It is made clear that on the next date of hearing charges shall be framed and all the accused shall ensure their personal attendance,” the judge said in his order.

The FIA had booked Shehbaz Sharif and his sons, Hamza and Suleman, under sections 419, 420, 468, 471, 34 and 109 (financial fraud, impersonation and forgery) of the Pakistan Penal Code and sections 5(2) and 5(3) (criminal misconduct) of the Prevention of Corruption Act and read with Section 3/4 of the Anti-Money laundering Act.

The challan submitted by the FIA comprises 66 pages along with seven additional volumes of 4,370 page documentary evidence.

Published in Dawn, April 28th, 2022