Court seeks arguments in Shehbaz Sharif’s money laundering case on March 10

LAHORE: A special court (Central-I) on Monday sought arguments from the defence on two applications moved on behalf of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) seeking a day-to-day hearing of the money laundering case against opposition leader in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif, his son Hamza and others.

Through another application, the prosecution sought action against Shahbaz and other suspects on contempt of court charges.

The presiding judge handed over both applications to the defence for submission of replies.

Hamza’s counsel sought an adjournment saying Shehbaz’s counsel Amjad Pervez was not available due to health reasons.

Judge allowed the request and adjourned the hearing till March 10 for the replies. Judge also sought arguments on the application against the jurisdiction of the court filed by suspect Muhammad Usman.

Earlier, the application accused Shehbaz of delaying the process of the indictment and interrupting the proceedings of court by delivering a time-wasting speech at the last hearing.

It stated that the speech was absolutely irrelevant to the facts and proceedings of the case and amounted to willfully interrupting the judicial proceedings.

The prosecution also accused another suspect of delaying the trial proceedings by moving an application challenging the jurisdiction of the court.

A FIA prosecutor also submitted that the prosecution wanted a day-to-day hearing in the case. He had already filed an application to this effect.Shehbaz and his son Hamza appeared before the court on expiry of their pre-arrest bail in the case.Hamza’s counsel Azam Nazir Tarar argued that he would have no objection to the prosecution request if the court was holding proceedings in other cases on a daily basis as well. He said cases were already pending against the suspects before other courts on similar allegations wherein they had been granted bail.He asked the court to confirm the bail of the suspects in the instant case as well.The FIA had booked Shehbaz and his sons Hamza and Suleman in November 2020 under sections 419, 420, 468, 471, 34 and 109 – financial fraud, impersonation and forgery – of the PPC and 5(2) and 5(3) – criminal misconduct – of Prevention of Corruption Act and r/w 3/4 of Anti Money Laundering Act. Suleman is absconding in the United Kingdom.The challan submitted by the FIA comprises 66 pages along with seven additional volumes comprising 4,370 pages of documentary evidence.The FIA nominated Shehbaz and his sons — Hamza and Suleman — as the principal accused in the case.