Salman Shehbaz, son of the Prime Minister of Pakistan, has been declared a wanted in the money laundering case
Judge Ijaz Awan of the Special Court Central, which hears the cases of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), declared Prime Minister's son Salman Shehbaz as an advertisement in the money laundering case.
FIA had registered a case against Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, his son Chief Minister Punjab Hamza Shehbaz and other accused including Salman Shehbaz on charges of money laundering.
A money laundering case was registered against the prime minister and his sons in November 2020, alleging money laundering of Rs 16 billion.
Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz appeared during the hearing on Friday, but his father Shehbaz Sharif could not appear due to official engagements.
The court declared Salman Shehbaz and his co-accused Tahir Naqvi as admissible on the non-appearance of Salman Shehbaz. The court declared two of the accused persons as admissible as they did not appear earlier.
Earlier, on May 28, the court had issued arrest warrants for the prime minister's son and two co-accused Tahir Naqvi and Malik Maqsood.
The Special Court Central was told that the warrant issued to Salman Shahbaz could not be complied with because he is abroad. The court declared the two accused as advertisers and also asked for all the details of the property of Salman Shahbaz and Tahir Naqvi.
The court had issued an arrest warrant for another co-accused, Malik Maqsood, in the same case, but he died in the UAE last month and was buried in Lahore. Judge Ejaz Awan of Special Court Central has also directed to present the details of Malik Maqsood's death certificate at the next hearing.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza Shehbaz are on bail and during the hearing of the same case, both father and son have become the Prime Minister and Chief Minister of Punjab from opposition leaders. So far, Shahbaz Sharif and Hamza Shahbaz have not been charged in this case of money laundering.
The court had set a date for indictment, but the indictment could not be filed. On the day when both of them were to be indicted, Shahbaz Sharif took the oath of Prime Minister instead of appearing in the court.
It should be remembered that Salman Shehbaz, who has been declared a fugitive by the court, was present with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on his official visit to Turkey.
At that time, a photo was also released on social media by the ruling party in which Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was sitting at the Prime Minister's table at a banquet.
When Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif did not appear, an application was filed for exemption from his appearance, in which it was stated that the Prime Minister and the accused in this case could not appear in the court due to official engagement, so they were exempted from appearance once. go The court accepted Shahbaz Sharif's miscellaneous application and issued summons to him for Friday's court appearance.
The court directed that Shahbaz Sharif appear at the next hearing. Further proceedings in the money laundering case against Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, his sons and co-accused will be held on July 30.