A special court in Lahore granted on Saturday pre-arrest bails to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz in a Rs 16 billion money laundering case, Aaj News reported.

The court has directed them to submit bail bonds of Rs1 million each. The pre-arrest bails of other suspects in the case have also been accepted. They have been directed to submit bail bonds of Rs 200,000 each.

During the last hearing, presiding Judge of the Special Court (Central-I), Ijaz Hassan Awan, had extended Shehbaz and Hamza's interim bails in the case till June 11 (today). During the hearing, the Federal Investigating Agency (FIA) told the court that it wanted to arrest Shehbaz and Hamza in the case.

FIA tells special court it wants to arrest PM Shehbaz, CM Hamza

Background

Last year, the FIA had submitted a challan in a banking court against Shehbaz and his two sons, Hamza and Salman, citing them as the main suspects in a money laundering case.

The investigation team had found 28 Benami accounts that were operated under Shehbaz and his household staff members' names from 2008 to 2018, when he was Punjab chief minister and Hamza was a member of the National Assembly.