LAHORE: In compliance with a direction of an accountability court, a proclamation has been issued to formally declare Nusrat Shehbaz, wife of Leader of Opposition in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif, an absconder in the Rs7 billion money laundering and illegal assets reference.

The proclamation, pasted on the court premises, says the suspect, Nusrat, has absconded and deliberately hiding her to avoid execution of warrants. As per the proclamation, the wife of the opposition leader is required to appear before the court on Nov 11.

On a previous hearing, the court had dismissed an application of Nusrat seeking permanent exemption from personal appearance in the trial for health reasons. Her counsel argued that she was out of the country for medical treatment.

Earlier, a proclamation has also been issued to declare Rabia Imran, daughter of Shehbaz, an absconder in the same reference.

The court is likely to indict Mr Shehbaz, his son Leader of Opposition in Punjab Assembly Hamza Shehbaz and other suspects on the next hearing of the reference.

A total of 20 persons had been nominated in the reference including four approvers –Yasir Mushtaq, Muhammad Mushtaq, Shahid Rafiq and Aftab Mahmood.

The main suspects are Mr Shehbaz’s wife Nusrat, his sons Hamza and Suleman (absconder), his daughters Rabia Imran and Javeria Ali.

Other suspects are alleged benamidars and business partners of the family including Nisar Ahmad, Qasim Qayum, Rashid Karamat, Masroor Anwar, Fazal Dad Abbasi and Shoaib Qamar.

Published in Dawn, November 6th, 2020