Pak opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif granted bail in money laundering case

A Pakistani court has granted opposition leader and Pakistani Muslim League- Nawaz (PML-N) chief Shehbaz Sharif post-arrest bail in money laundering case.

A Pakist court has granted opposition leader and Pakist Muslim League- Nawaz (PML-N) chief Shehbaz Sharif post-arrest bail in money laundering case.

The Lahore High Court on Thursday granted Shehbaz's bail. The three-judge bench, headed by Justice Ali Baqar Najafi, gave a unmous verdict, Dawn reported.

According to the short court order, the PML-N leader was required to furnish two bail bonds worth Pakist Rs 5 million each.

Shehbaz, the brother of former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, was arrested on September 28, 2020, in the money laundering reference after the LHC refused to further extend his pre-arrest bail.

He was first granted interim pre-arrest bail last year on June 3. After his arrest, he remained in the bureau's custody for 23 days till the trial court sent him on judicial remand on October 20, 2020.

Shehbaz Sharif, the former Punjab Chief Minister, is accused of accumulating assets worth Pakist Rs7,328 million in connivance with his co-accused family members, benamidars, front persons and close associations and for developing an orgzed system of money laundering.

The anti-graft watchdog has nominated a total of 20 individuals in the reference - Shahbaz's wife Nusrat, his sons Hamza and Suleman, and daughters Rabia Imran and Javeria Ali.

Previously, Shehbaz was also arrested by NAB on October 5, 2018 in Ashiana-i-Iqbal Housing Scheme and later in the Ramzan Sugar Mills case. The LHC had released him on bail in both cases on February 17, 2019.

( With inputs from ANI )