An accountability court on Thursday directed the jail authorities to provide homemade food and other facilities to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif, ARY News reported. The court today issued a three-page written order on a plea seeking facilities of home food, special bed and provision of medicines to the PML-N leader.
PML-N Lahore had filed a petition in the accountability court seeking facilities to Shehbaz Sharif in jail according to the law. “Shehbaz Sharif has been the Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly, he should be provided facilities including home food as per the law,” the petition said.
The Jail Superintendent should ensure provision of home food, special bed, chair, medicines and other necessary facilities, the court said in its order.
The court directed the Superintendent Kot Lakhpat Jail to submit a compliance report over the order on October 27. “Shehbaz Sharif is an aged accused and the jail manual permits prisoners to buy food from private sources,” the court order said.
Superintendent Jail could allow the prisoners to buy dress, bed, and other necessary items, according to the written order.
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Superintendent Jail, however, could not permit unhygienic, unnecessary, and inappropriate things. The jail administration could suspend food supply to prisoners from outside on the recommendation of the jails medical officer, according to the court order.
Shehbaz family money laundering
On September 28, the Lahore High Court (LHC) rejected the bail application of Shehbaz Sharif. He was arrested by the NAB officials from the LHC.
According to the NAB investigation report, the Chief Financial Officer of the Sharif family Muhammad Usman laundered money for the Shehbaz family.
Muhammad Usman started working for the Sharif family in 2005 at Ramzan Sugar Mills for Rs 90,000 per month. In 2006, the Nawaz family acquired Hudaibiya Engineering from the Shehbaz family and in 2007, the Shehbaz family made more companies, including the Sharif Feed Mill, to expand their business.
The bank accounts of Shehbaz Sharif’s wife Nusrat Shehbaz and his sons were used for foreign remittances and loans. On the direction of Salman, Waqar Trading Company made fake foreign remittances of Rs 600 million.
The entire amount was transferred to Salman Shehbaz’s personal account via cheque but it is not known where Salman received his money from.
Did Shehbaz Sharif steal money?
According to a confidential investigation report seen by the Daily Mail, millions of pounds were transferred into the bank accounts of Shehbaz’s family members, including his wife, children, and a son-in-law. It states to have interviewed key witnesses held on remand in jail, including a UK citizen, Aftab Mehmood, who claims that he had laundered millions on behalf of Shahbaz’s family from a nondescript office in Birmingham – without attracting suspicion from Britain’s financial regulators, who inspected his books regularly.
According to Daily Mail, investigators are convinced that some of the allegedly stolen money came from the Department for International Development (DFID)-funded aid projects. For rehabilitating and rebuilding lives of the poor, the DFID gave £54 million from UK taxpayers; and the legal documents allege that Shehbaz’s son-in-law received about £1 million from that fund.
As per claims by the Daily Mail, Britain’s National Crime Agency has been working closely with Pakistani investigators and Home Secretary Sajid Javid discussing the possible extradition of members of Shehbaz’s family, who have taken refuge in London.
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A confidential investigation report, seen by Daily Mail, says the family was worth just £150,000 in 2003 but by 2018 their total assets had grown to around £200 million. Among other properties, Shehbaz owns a 53,000 sq ft palace in Lahore, which has its own large security force. The money, the report says, was channeled from abroad – via several elaborate money-laundering schemes, in which Britain played a central role.