Court indicts Shehbaz Sharif's wife Nusrat in money-laundering case

An accountability court in Lahore indicted on Friday Nusrat Shehbaz, wife of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif, in a case pertaining to money-laundering.

Accountability court Judge Naseem Virk indicted Nusrat through a pleader and ordered that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) witnesses be present in the next hearing. Last year, Nusrat was declared an absconder for her persistent non-appearance in the money-laundering case.

The proclamation, pasted on the court premises, said the suspect, Nusrat, has absconded and was deliberately hiding to avoid the execution of warrants.

Meanwhile, during the hearing today, the court accepted Shehbaz's plea for exemption from appearance in the case after it was informed he was unable to appear in person due to ill health.

Money-laundering reference: Shehbaz, son, others to be indicted again; Nusrat joins trial

According to a money-laundering reference filed by NAB, illegal assets worth Rs 3.3 billion had been identified so far owned by Hamza, his brother Suleman and their father Shehbaz. In money-laundering reference, a total of 20 persons have been nominated including four approvers - Yasir Mushtaq, Muhammad Mushtaq, Shahid Rafiq and Aftab Mahmood.

The main suspects are Shehbaz's wife Nusrat, his sons Hamza and Suleman and his daughters Rabia Imran and Javeria Ali.

The reference mainly accused Shehbaz of being a beneficiary of assets held in the name of his family members and benamidars who had no sources to acquire such assets. It said the family members and benamidars of the Shehbaz's family received fake foreign remittances of billions in their personal bank accounts. The reference further said the family of Shehbaz failed to justify the sources of funds used for the acquisition of assets.