Money Laundering Case: Pakistan Prime Minister’s son declared a ‘Proclaimed Offender’
New Delhi: The Special Court of Pakistan on Friday declared the Prime Minister’s son Suleman Shehbaz a proclaimed offender along with another suspect in a Rs 16 billion money laundering case.
The Lahore Special Court (Central-I) declared Suleman and Tahir Naqvi proclaimed offenders after they failed to appear despite being summoned. The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) booked Suleman Shehbaz and his sons Hamza and Suleman in November 2020 under the Prevention of Corruption Act and Anti Money Laundering Act.
On June 11, the FIA submitted a report about non-bailable arrest warrants issued for Suleman, Naqvi, and Maqsood. In its report, the FIA had stated that the warrants could not be executed since Suleman was not present at his address and had gone abroad.
Arrest warrants were issued for Suleman and Naqvi on May 28. At the same hearing, the court also issued arrest warrants for another suspect, Malik Maqsood alias Maqsood ‘Chaprasi’, who passed away in the United Arab Emirates last month. At Friday’s hearing, the court sought details about the properties of Suleman and Naqvi as well as Maqsood’s death certificate.
According to FIA’s investigation, “Team has detected 28 Benami accounts of the Shehbaz family through which money laundering of ₹16.3 bn was committed during 2008-18. The FIA examined the money trail of 17,000 credit transactions,”
(Vinayak)
