On Tuesday, an accountability court awarded PM Shehbaz Sharif a permanent exemption from court appearances while also allowing the appointment of a representation in the money laundering case against him.
Today, PM Shehbaz and his son, the former chief minister of Punjab, Hamza Shehbaz, appeared before Judge Qamar-ul-Zaman of the Lahore Accountability Court to present their arguments in the money laundering case.
The premier was given permission to name a representative who would be appointed to appear in court on his behalf after the court accepted his request for a permanent attendance waiver.
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Hamza’s plea for a day’s leave was also granted by the court. He had also asked to be excused from the hearing permanently, but the court has asked the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to explain the situation.
A Lahore accountability court had in September returned the NAB’s Ramzan Sugar Mills referral against PM Shehbaz and his son Hamza to the anti-graft organisation, which was a great comfort to them.
A special central court judge set the date of October 8 for additional arguments about the applications for acquittal of PM Shehbaz and Hamza in the Rs. 16 billion money laundering case later that month.
The system of accountability, according to Prime Minister Shehbaz on Friday, was used to malign and tarnish the late Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz. Shehbaz said that this process was driven by personal vendettas and that it damaged the political climate of the nation.
The statement was made following the acquittal of PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz and her husband, Capt. (ret.) Mohammad Safdar, by the Islamabad High Court (IHC), which overturned their conviction in the Avenfield reference case from four years prior.
Additionally, the IHC already dismissed the Narowal Sports Complex reference brought forward by the NAB, clearing Federal Minister Ahsan Iqbal of all allegations.