The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) prayed to an accountability court (AC) on Monday to cancel the bails granted to Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly (NA) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza Shehbaz, who is the leader of the opposition in the Punjab Assembly, in sugar scandal and money laundering cases, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

The FIA submitted to the court a report on the occasion which reads that both father and the son were the beneficiaries of the sugar scandal which led to the laundering of their money abroad.

The report alleges that Shehbaz and Hamza had laundered Rs25 billion offshores; that they opened bank accounts in the names of Ramzan Sugar Mills’ 20 lowly paid employees, and laundered money through Hundi.

It further says that since three people nominated in the case namely; Suleman Shehbaz, Tahir Naqvi and Malik Masood have already fled abroad, therefore it is feared that both Shehbaz and Hamza may also leave the country to avoid accountability.

According to the report, transactions were made through suspicious accounts between 2008 and 2018.

The FIA argues that a probe into the cases could not be completed if both the suspects remain on bail. “Furthermore, they are not cooperating with the interrogators,” the report alleges.

Peons, clerks and cashiers of Shehbaz Sharif family are also nominated in these corruption cases.

For example, according to the FIA, it has come to light that over Rs2 billion were laundered in the name of peon Maqsood; also over Rs2 billion in the name of Haji Naeem, a friend of Mushtaq Cheeni, Rs2.50 billion in the name of Cheeni’s driver, Rs1.75 billion in the name of peon Aslam while Rs4.50 billion were laundered in the names of clerks Azhar, Ghulam Shabbir and Khizar Hayat.

Similarly, accounts were also opened in the names of Qaiser Abbas, Akbar, Iqrar, Anwar, Yasin, Ghazanfar, Zafar Iqbal, Kashif Majeed and Masroor Anwar.

The report states that Sharif Group of Companies’ chief financial officer kept monitoring the money laundering.

Moreover, Shehbaz Sharif’s camp office was used for receiving the amounts.

The FIA further alleges that stacks of currency notes were brought to Suleman Shehbaz’s office in police protocol. And from Suleman’s office, these amounts were laundered abroad.

Reporter Jamaluddin Jamali