LAHORE: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s son in-law Haroon Yousaf on Wednesday withdrew his pre-arrest bail petition in a reference of money laundering after the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) declared him innocent.

A supplementary report the NAB investigating officer filed before an accountability court after a fresh probe said no evidence of corruption and money laundering had been found against accused persons Yousaf and Tahir Naqvi.

The report further said that custody of the accused persons was not required by the NAB.

At this, the counsel for both accused sought permission from the court to withdraw their pre-arrest bail petitions.

Judge Qamaruz Zaman allowed the request and disposed of the bail petitions as withdrawn.

Previously, Yousaf and Naqvi had been declared proclaimed offenders by the court for their constant disappearance in the proceedings.

Later, they surrendered before the court and joined the investigation before the NAB.

Recently, the NAB also gave a clean chit to PM Shehbaz saying it found no evidence of corruption or money laundering against him.

In this reference, the NAB had alleged that the family members and benamidars of PM Shehbaz received fake foreign remittances of billions in their personal bank accounts.

In addition to these remittances, the bureau said, billions of rupees were laundered by way of foreign pay orders, which were deposited with personal bank accounts of his sons Hamza and Suleman.

PM Shehbaz, his son Hamza, daughter Javeria Ali had been indicted in the reference besides other accused including Fazal Dad Abbasi, Rashid Karamat, Muhammad Usman, Masroor Anwar, Nisar Ahmad, Shoaib Qamar and Qasim Qayum. Shehbaz’s wife Nusrat had been indicted through a pleader as she is out of the country.

Suleman Shehbaz ended his self-exile and returned to the country and got pre-arrest bail in the reference.

Published in Dawn, May 25th, 2023