No one can prove corruption against me: Shahbaz

Our correspondent

LAHORE: An accountability court Wednesday adjourned the hearing of money-laundering and assets beyond means case against Shahbaz family until January 26.

The jail authorities produced Shahbaz Sharif and his son Hamza Shahbaz before the court amid tight security as heavy contingents of the law-enforcement agencies had cordoned off the court premises.

During the course of hearing, the NAB prosecution witness FBR’s Deputy Director Asif Zameer recorded his statement. Moreover, the court has summoned Asif Zameer and another witness Muhammad Sharif on the next hearing for cross-examination. The court has also directed authorities concerned to include three personal physicians of Shahbaz Sharif as part of the medical board constituted to address his health concerns.

During the hearing, Shahbaz again said he saved billions of rupees of the nation in the contract of Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC). He said no one has rebutted his claims what he had said on the last hearing. He claimed that news was planted against him from London. “I will not expose the name of the person who planted that news,” he added. When the Daily Mail published that news, British authorities opened their offices Sunday which is not a working day and made investigations, Shahbaz claimed. He further claimed that British authorities didn’t find any evidence of corruption against him. The country was disgraced by planting fake news against him, he added. Even here in Pakistan, the NAB will not find any evidence of corruption against him as he had saved money in every project, he further added. He said he initiated projects worth Rs5 billion in collaboration with the UK government.

Previously, the court had declared PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif’s wife Nusrat Shahbaz a proclaimed offender in this case. The court had also declared Shahbaz’s son Suleman Shahbaz, daughter Rabia Imran and son-in-law Ali Imran Yousaf as proclaimed offenders in reference against Shahbaz family. The court had started proceedings against Shahbaz family members by declaring them absconders after they didn’t join the investigation and trial proceedings. The court had also declared three other accused as proclaimed offenders in this case including Haroon Yousaf, Tahir Naqvi and Ali Ahmad Khan.

In the reference against Shahbaz family, the NAB had claimed that in the last 30 years, Shahbaz family assets increased from Rs2 million to Rs7,000 million that the family had failed to justify.

The NAB alleged accused Shahbaz in connivance with his co-accused family members, ‘Benamidars’, front men, close associates, employees and money-changers had developed an organised system of money-laundering for accumulation of assets disproportionate to his known sources of income to the tune of Rs7,328 million.