Money-laundering case: Bail of PM, son extended
LAHORE: Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), which is probing Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his son and Punjab chief minister Hamza Shehbaz in a multi-billion rupees money-laundering case, on Saturday requested the court to allow their arrest for further investigation. The court, however, extended their pre-arrest bail until June 11.
The FIA also filed an interim investigation report against the premier and other suspects in the 14 billion Pakistani rupees ($70.7 million) money laundering case against them.
Shehbaz and Hamza appeared before the Special Court amidst high security.
“An FIA prosecutor submitted an interim investigation report in the court and sought arrest of prime suspects - Prime Minister Shehbaz and Punjab chief minister Hamza - arguing that their custody is needed for further probe in the case as they have not joined the investigation and cooperated with investigators,” a court official told Press Trust of India. The prime minister’s counsel advocate Amjad Pervez strongly objected to the FIA’s plea and termed it a “false assertion of the agency”. He said that the FIA had already investigated the father and the son when they were in jail in Lahore.
He said that his clients had not only joined the investigation when they were in jail but also appeared before the investigators at the FIA office.
“The case is pending for the last one-and-a-half-year and investigation against Shehbaz and Hamza by the FIA has been completed,” Pervez argued.
He further said that it’s a politically motivated case as it was instituted by the previous government of Pakistan Tehreek-eInsaf with only one aim to send them behind bars.
In the hearing last week, Shehbaz had told the court: “What to talk about money laundering allegations against me, I never received salary and other perks when I was chief minister of Punjab for 10 years or so. God has made me the PM of this country. This case of money laundering has been instituted against me and my sons on political grounds as money laundering charges against us have no basis and evidence.”
Govt approves nearly 6% hike in defence budget
The government has increased the defence budget for the outgoing fiscal year by nearly 6% to over 1.45 trillion Pakistani rupees ($7.33bn) to meet the critical needs of the country’s armed forces. This decision to increase the budget was taken by Pakistan’s ECC to meet the enhanced salary requirements and other key needs, The Express Tribune newspaper reported.
Besides the decision to increase the defence budget by another 80 billion Pakistani rupees ($404mn), 182 billion Pakistani rupees ($920mn) in supplementary grants was approved in total.
Finance minister Miftah Ismail presided over the ECC meeting that approved the hike for the Pakistan armed forces, the newspaper report said.