A special court on Monday ruled, ‘No evidence of corruption, misuse of authority, and bribery’ has so far been found on record against Shehbaz Sharif and Hamza Shahbaz in the Rs16 billion money laundering case.

Read more: Imran says it becomes necessary to get rid of this imported govt for Pakistan’s betterment

The court, hearing the Rs16 billion money laundering case filed by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) against Shehbaz and Hamza, granted them pre-arrest bail last week.

The court in its reserved verdict observed that the FIA wanted to arrest Shehbaz and Hamza after they secured bails in the NAB cases, showing that the FIA had “mala fide” intentions.

The order said that the investigation office (IO), to date, has not mentioned in his diary that the petitioners were required to be in custody for further probe.

The investigation of the case has been completed and the charge sheet has also been submitted, therefore, the arrests are not required, the special court said, explaining its decision to grant the petitioners bail.

The court order mentioned that the statements of the 64 people recorded in the case — who had deposited the amounts — relate to Rs60.7 million and not Rs16 billion — as claimed by the FIA.

Read more: FIA will initiate a money-laundering probe against Moonis Elahi

“…allegation about gratification, corrupt practice, abuse of official authority, kickbacks, and commission requires further probe during the trial as at this stage cogent evidence is not available,” the order read.