LAHORE: An accountability court has approved appointment of a lawyer as pleader of Nusrat Shehbaz, the wife of Leader of Opposition in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif, to regularly appear on her behalf in the trial proceedings of a money laundering reference.

Earlier, the trial court had declared Ms Shehbaz an absconder for avoiding her appearance in the proceedings.

Ms Shehbaz, who at present lives in London, challenged the decision before the Lahore High Court through a special attorney. The high court set aside the trial court’s order as her lawyer accepted a condition of the NAB to appoint a pleader to attend the trial proceedings on her behalf.

Advocate Nawaz Chaudhry filed an application before trial court for his appointment as pleader on behalf of Ms Shebaz, which was duly accepted. Ms Shehbaz pleaded that she was already in London for medical treatment when the NAB initiated the inquiry against her.

Previously, a daughter of Shehbaz namely Javeria has also been permitted to make her representation in the proceedings through a pleader.

However, Shehbaz’s another son Suleman, daughter Rabia Imran and son-in-law Haroon Yousaf have been declared absconders by the trial court for avoiding their appearance in the proceedings.

Published in Dawn, May 6th, 2021