RAWALPINDI:An FIA special central court in Lahore on Monday acquitted Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s son, Suleman Shehbaz, and 13 others in a money laundering case.

Pronouncing the verdict, the court declared that the prosecution had failed to prove the case against the accused. Therefore, the accused are free to go, the court added.

The court further remarked that the accused were being acquitted as the challan of the case did not carry any charges against them.

Suleman Shehbaz was present in the courtroom when the decision was announced. FIA Additional Director Shahid Hassan, who is the investigation officer in the case, also appeared in court. He submitted replies to 27 questions which had been posed by the court in the previous hearing.

The judge even asked the prosecutor to define what was meant by money laundering. The court also asked the prosecutor to submit the record cited by former accountability adviser Shahzad Akbar and asked from where he had obtained this record.

The prosecutor replied that Akbar only met with director-level officers of the agency. The judge replied that the prosecutor was trying to pin the blame for the whole case on someone who had passed away.

The FIA had previously filed its supplementary report under section 173 under CrPC to the extent of Suleman saying no evidence of money laundering or receiving kickbacks had been found against the prime minister’s son.

The court annexed the supplementary report with the main case. Suleman had ended his almost four-year long self-exile and returned to the country after securing an interim protective bail from the Islamabad High Court.

The then judge of the special court in October 2022 allowed the acquittal applications of PM Shehbaz and former chief minister Hamza Shehbaz in the Rs16 billion money laundering case with an observation that there was no probability of conviction even if the prosecution’s evidence collected during the investigation was recorded.

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