LAHORE: An accountability court on Friday adjourned hearing of the money laundering reference against Leader of Opposition in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza.

The court allowed a one-time exemption from personal appearance to Shehbaz on account of the National Assembly session.

Defence counsel Advocate Amjad Pervez told the court that the NAB arrested another suspect and would file a supplementary reference after completing investigation.

He asked the court to adjourn cross-examination of the prosecution witnesses saying the trial of all the suspects should be held simultaneously.

Opposing the plea, a prosecutor said the witness, present in the court for cross-examination, was not related to the newly arrested suspect.

The defence counsel also informed the court that a co-suspect, Fazal Dad Abbasi, had passed away.

The counsel requested the court to fix the next hearing after Dec 5 as he was scheduled to leave for London.

However, the court adjourned the hearing till Nov 26 and directed the prosecution to present the witnesses for cross-examination.

The NAB alleged that the family members and benamidars of Shehbaz received fake foreign remittances of billions in their personal bank accounts. In addition to these remittances, the bureau said, billions of rupees were laundered by way of foreign pay orders, which were deposited in personal bank accounts of his sons – Hamza and Suleman.

Published in Dawn, November 20th, 2021