LAHORE: A Special Court (Central) on Saturday issued arrest warrants of Salman Shehbaz, son of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and two other accused, Tahir Naqvi and Malik Maqsood, in a money laundering case registered by FIA.

The court also extended the bail of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his son Chief Minister (CM) Punjab Hamza Shehbaz till June 11 and asked the FIA to submit report about the execution of arrest warrants.

PM Shehbaz Sharif and CM Punjab Hamza Shehbaz appeared before the court amid strict security arrangements.

Earlier, FIA submitted supplementary challan against PM Shehbaz and CM Punjab Hamza and sought their arrest.

The counsel of Shehbaz Sharif opposed the plea and said the PTI-led government had filed the case with malafide intention to target its political opponents.

He also argued that Shehbaz Sharif had no link to any of the bank accounts as alleged by the FIA.

He said the FIA could not produce a single witness during the last ten years to establish any relation of the alleged bank accounts with Shehbaz.

He said the challan submitted by the FIA was nothing more than a story based on assumptions.

The counsel of Hamza also argued that there is no rational behind the seeking arrest after challan has been submitted.

He said this plea and action of the FIA also show the bad intention of the prosecutor.

The FIA also submitted the supplementary Challan of the three accused with correct names and addresses. The court during the previous hearing had directed the FIA to correct the addresses and fathers’ names of the accused persons.

The FIA accordingly corrected the names and addresses and submitted the supplementary challan for fresh warrants of the accused.

It is pertinent to mention that fathers’ name of Salman Shehbaz, Tahir Naqvi were not mentioned in the challan while address of the accused Maqsood was incorrect and hence arrest warrant notices had not been executed.

The FIA booked Shehbaz Sharif and his sons Hamza Shehbaz and Suleman Shehbaz in November 2020 under sections 419,420,468, 471, 34 and 109 of the Prevention of Corruption Act and read with Section 3/4 of Anti Money Laundering Act.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022