The Islamabad Excessive Court docket (IHC) on Tuesday granted 14 days of protecting bail to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s son Suleman Shehbaz whereas directing him to look earlier than the related trial court docket listening to a cash laundering case in opposition to him.
Suleman landed in Pakistan on Sunday after spending over 4 years of self-exile in the UK, following IHC’s directive to give up earlier than the court docket by December 13.
The court docket had denied protecting bail to the premier’s son, citing his absence, however barred the authorities from arresting him from the airport on his arrival to Pakistan.
Suleman seems earlier than IHC
Suleman appeared earlier than the IHC on the outset of the listening to of his plea for protecting bail.
Throughout the listening to, IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq requested Suleman’s counsel concerning the court docket his consumer has to look in.
At this, Amjad Pervez, Suleman’s lawyer, instructed the IHC CJ that his consumer has to look earlier than the central particular choose in Lahore.
Justice Farooq, after studying this, granted protecting bail to the PM’s son and directed him to look earlier than the related court docket inside 14 days.
In his petition earlier than the IHC, Suleman contended that he left Pakistan in 2018 and the case was registered in opposition to him in 2020. He additionally shared that the Federal Investigation Company (FIA) had not issued a call-up discover to him, including that he was declared a proclaimed offender by the court docket with none motion.
‘Imran Khan’s time to be accountable right here’
Chatting with the media outdoors IHC, Suleman slammed Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan and mentioned that his time of accountability is right here.
“The time of accountability is right here, we is not going to spare him. We is not going to give him any house now and he will probably be punished,” mentioned Suleman.
Requested about Farah Gogi, a buddy of Imran Khan’s spouse who allegedly offered the Toshakhana watches gifted to Khan, Suleman puzzled why she flee Pakistan.
“You might be crying that Farah Gogi will not be a public workplace holder. I used to be not a public workplace holder both,” mentioned Suleman. He added that the PTI chairman, whereas he was in energy, didn’t even take into consideration girls and arrested them.
“You had the facility, you might have proved the circumstances,” mentioned Suleman.
The PM’s son additionally slammed former Nationwide Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman Javed Iqbal, saying that he was a “black stain” on the accountability system.
‘Complete world noticed Imran Khan’s tamasha final month’
Suleman additional said that your complete world noticed the “tamasha” [show] by PTI Chairman Khan final month.
He mentioned that the PTI management criticises each establishment which gives aid to the PML-N leaders. He mentioned {that a} case was registered in Britain on the behest of the Pakistani authorities in Khan’s tenure, and its trial continued for 18 months.
“The [UK] Nationwide Crime Company (NCA) discovered no proof of cash laundering in opposition to Shehbaz Sharif,” Suleman mentioned, whereas asking what the PTI management would say concerning the British company now.
The PM’s son additionally requested the PTI chief to point out the transaction of the cash he obtained from promoting the watches gifted by the Saudi crown prince.
Transferring on to the defamation case that PM Shehbaz Sharif received in a UK court docket, Suleman mentioned that PTI chief Shahzad Akbar was the one to carry David Rose — who wrote the defamatory article within the British publication Every day Mail — to NAB’s cell.
He mentioned that the story was printed in England’s newspaper after a “false briefing” at NAB’s cell.
“Shahzad Akbar himself is on the run from Pakistan. He performed with Pakistan,” Suleman mentioned.
Suleman’s exile
Suleman flew to London from Pakistan forward of the 2018 basic elections when the Nationwide Accountability Bureau (NAB) registered a number of circumstances in opposition to him.
He was additionally named in a number of circumstances alongside together with his father, the present prime minister, his brother Hamza Shahbaz, and different Sharif members of the family.
The Property Restoration Unit (ARU), headed by then-prime minister Imran Khan’s former accountability aide Shahzad Akbar, had Suleman investigated in London in Shahbaz’s money-laundering and misuse of public workplace circumstances by the UK’s Nationwide Crime Company (NCA).
Nevertheless, he was given a clear chit after two years of investigation by the UK’s high anti-corruption sleuths.
Suleman has claimed that he was compelled to depart Pakistan after faux and manipulated circumstances had been registered in opposition to him and his household with a purpose to facilitate a brand new political order.
He mentioned that no one goes into exile, leaving their homeland behind, out of their free will and it’s solely beneath unfair circumstances that he was left with no selection however to “go away Pakistan for security.”
“There was no likelihood of any justice at the moment when an entire system was put in place to usher in the hybrid system, displacing us as a household and as a political occasion. The entire system was based mostly on injustice and this method relied on lies, manipulations and victimisation. The entire system was geared to focus on us utilizing faux circumstances and utilizing the state equipment.”
He mentioned in an announcement from Madinah: “These circumstances had been the worst instance of political witch-hunt and political victimisation. There was no fact and never a scintilla of proof of corruption within the circumstances cooked up by the Nationwide Accountability Bureau beneath former NAB chairman Javed Iqbal and the Property Restoration Unit.”
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