LAHORE: An accountability court on Saturday extended Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader and Punjab Assembly Opposition Leader Hamza Shehbaz’s physical remand by seven days in an assets beyond means case.
During the court proceedings, Hamza’s lawyer told the court that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has already been granted more than 50 days of remand. “How much more remand do they need,” he asked.
NAB had requested for an extension of 15 days in the physical remand of Hamza, which the PML-N leader’s lawyer rejected and said there was no need of.
“All records are already with NAB, why are they requesting for an extension? NAB had the same position at the last hearing which they have today,” he said.
Hamza’s lawyer further said, “There is no need for physical remand. NAB is twisting the facts and presenting before the court,” he added.
NAB’s prosecutor told the court that two ‘benami’ companies under Hamza’s name have been found.
“Nadeem Saeed is the chief financial officer (CFO) of one of the companies. He said that Hamza Shehbaz and Suleman Shebaz each made a company in 2016 and purchased a piece of land measuring 155 kanal in Chiniot but did not share where they acquired the capital from, he said.
The prosecutor added Hamza’s account contained two and a half million rupees. “From where did Hamza Shehbaz get all this money? We are investigating this,” he said.
The court after hearing the arguments extended Hamza’s physical remand by seven days and ordered the PML-N leader be presented before the court on August 10.
On June 11, the NAB had arrested Hamza after the LHC rejected his interim bail in the Ramzan Sugar Mills and money laundering cases.
According to the accountability watchdog, the PML-N leader made five companies from 2006 to 2009 and did a business of more than Rs19billion.
