ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Saturday cleared Suleman Shehbaz, son of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, in a Rs16 billion ($69.61 million) money laundering case over a lack of evidence against him, local media reported. 
Shehbaz, along with PM Sharif and his brother Hamza Shehbaz, was booked by the FIA in November 2020 for laundering Rs16 billion. He had attended a few hearings before leaving Pakistan for England in 2018 after multiple corruption cases were registered against him. 
In July this year, a trial court had declared Shehbaz a proclaimed offender, along with another accused, in the money laundering case. However, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had restrained authorities from arresting Shehbaz prior to his return to Pakistan on Dec 11. 
On Saturday, Shehbaz appeared before a Lahore court for the hearing of his pre-arrest bail plea in the money laundering case. 
“As the proceedings commenced, the FIA submitted a challan before the court, stating the agency could not find any evidence against Suleman in the case that it had been investigating for months,” Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper reported. 
A couple of months ago, a special court in Lahore had acquitted PM Sharif and his elder son, Hamza Shehbaz, in this case. 
The FIA had accused the Sharif family of laundering Rs16.3 billion via more than two dozen fictitious accounts between 2008 and 2018. 
Following Saturday’s submission by the FIA, Shehbaz and the other co-accused, Tahir Naqvi, withdrew their bail applications, according to the Dawn report. 
The court then adjourned hearing of the case until February 4.