New revelations emerge in UK’s NCA probe into Shehbaz’s case

New revelations have emerged in England’s National Crime Agency’s investigations into money laundering case against PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif as the NCA has got production orders from a court to get access to the UK bank account of the PML-N leader, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

Reportedly, the NCA has got the production orders of getting access to the details of Shehbaz’s account in the Barclays Bank by Southwark Crown Court in relation to his mortgage dealings with PTI UK leader and donor Aneel Mussarat.

The crown court has allowed the NCA to probe into the 15-yeat-old matter relating to money-laundering case. The court granted the agency that it could get access to the bank statements, complete detail of mortgage agreement and financial transactions related to the purchase of Flat 2, 30 Upper Berkley Street, London, W1H 5QE and Flat 10 Richbourne Court, 9 Harrowby Street, W1H 5PT and other bank loans taken by Shehbaz in May 2005 – with the help of PTI UK leader and donor Aneel Mussarat through a loan agreement.

The NCA application to Southwark Court states that its request for Production Order is in relation to fund that were subjected to 12-month Account Freezing Orders which were given on Dec 17, 2019 by City of Westminster Magistrates Court. 

According to the NCA application, these funds totaling GBP £677,307.14 are held across four bank accounts with HSBC, RBS and Barclays and Suleman Sharif is the holder of accounts with the HSBC and Barclays banks along with Shehbaz Sharif. 

The NCA application further states that it suspects that the remaining balance of the frozen funds is to be a recoverable property or intended by any person for use in unlawful conduct. Specifically that it is derived from the alleged criminal conduct and money laundering activity.

So the agency wants to determine if the frozen funds consist, in part or full, of recoverable property. This application relates to a precise portion of the frozen funds worth GBP 315,000 derived from the sale proceeds of the Berkeley Street flat. 

The agency requested the court that it believed that the material would be of substantial value to the investigation. Without it, the case team will not be able to determine the true source of the frozen funds.

On this, the crown court granted access to the NCA to Shehbaz Sharif’s Barclays bank account. 

It is pertinent to mention here that National Crime Agency after conducting a thorough investigations of two years, gave clean chit to Shehbaz Sharif in the money laundering case.