Pakistan court extends bail of PLM-N leader Shehbaz, son till August 16 in sugar scam case

A Pakistan court on Monday extended the bail granted to opposition leaders Shehbaz Sharif and Hamza Shehbaz in the sugar scam case.

Dawn reported that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders have got the extension after the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) submitted a report on their investigation into the corruption case.

Shehbaz and his son, Hamza, are facing Rs 25 billion money laundering charges in the sugar scandal. The FIA had booked them in the case under sections of the Pakistan Penal Code, the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Anti-Money Laundering Act in November 2020.

Both the leaders appeared before the court today upon expiration of the bail previously granted.

The counsel for Shehbaz, the leader of opposition in the National Assembly (NA), told the court that a National Assembly session was to commence today (Monday) and last till August 13.

He further said that his client had to attend the NA session, and requested the court to defer the case's hearing until after the session's conclusion reported Dawn further.

According to Dawn, the report provided by FIA in Lahore court claimed that concrete evidence was available to prove the allegations against the accused. It further said that the PML-N leaders had carried out transactions through "suspicious bank accounts" between 2008 and 2018.

( With inputs from ANI )