An Accountability Court of Lahore awarded three year sentence to Suhail Zia Butt, former National Assembly member, a brother-in-law of PM L-N chief Nawaz Sharif, in a cooperative society scam, Dunya News reported on Friday. The court refused to hear any of Butts argument and maintained the sentence given to him in the year 2000, i.e after which he was also declared proclaimed offender for not appearing before the court then. National Accountability Bureau (NAB) arrested Suhail on Thursday (Sep 1) over charges of defaulting on a Rs70 million loan from National Corporate. Suhail Butt was on way to his office after attending a funeral in the Model Town area when he was picked up by a special team of NAB near Kalma Chowk in Garden Town. He was shifted to the Chamba House. NAB has accused Butt of misappropriating over Rs70 million in a cooperative companies scam. Reference was sent to NAB in 2001 after Suhail Zia failed to return the loan.He was declared a proclaimed offender in absentia by an accountability court in 2001. He returned to Pakistan in 2008 before the elections after spending more than seven years abroad and no action had been taken against him for almost two years. Zia Butt is a brother-in-law of the Sharif brothers. His son, Umar Suhail Butt, is a sitting MNA from Lahore. Relatives of the accused told reporters that the case has no basis and the PPP is trying to politically victimize us.
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